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A CORNER IN INDIA 



Frontispiece Mem Sahib in Her "Pull-man 



A CORNER IN 

INDIA 



By 

Mary Mead Clark 



Philadelphia 
American Baptist Publication Society 

1907 

Boston Chicago Atlanta 

New York St. Louis Dallas 



3^ 



of CONGKES3 
Two Conies Received 

MAY 29 !90f 

> A Copyright Et>try 
CLASS A * Xc '< No ' 



Copyright 1907 by the 
American Baptist Publication Society 

Published May, 1907 



jprom tbe Society's own press 



TO 

AND FRIENDS IN THIS AND OTHER LANDS 
WHOSE PRAYERS AND LOVE AND INTEREST 
HAVE BEEN OUR CONSTANT INSPIRATION 
THESE MANY YEARS ; AND TO THE YOUNG 
MEN AND WOMEN WHO ARE NEEDED TO 
FURTHER PLANT THE BANNER OF THE 
CROSS AMONG SAVAGE TRIBES 



" Mine album is the savage breast, 
Where darkness broods and tempests rest 

Without one ray of light; 
To write the name of Jesus there, 
And point to worlds all bright and fair, 
And see the savage bow in prayer, 

Is my supreme delight." 



PREFACE 



In the preparation of this little volume we have been 
encouraged and inspired by many helpful suggestions 
from our former colaborers in the distant wilds, Rev. 
F. P. Haggard, Corresponding Secretary of the American 
Baptist Missionary Union, and Dr. W. E. Witter, District 
Secretary for New England. 

It is sent forth with the earnest prayer that the young 
men and women who may chance to read it will not only 
be entertained, but moved to action in behalf of the savage 
tribes whose habits, customs, and possibilities are here 
depicted from personal observation through many years. 



Amenia, N. Y., 1907. 



Mary Mead Clark. 



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INTRODUCTION 



While Doctor Clark continues his personal ministry 
to the wild tribes of Assam, among which he has spent 
so many years of self-sacrificing service, it will be a 
pleasure to many in America and across the seas to read 
the racy glimpses of life among the warlike Nagas by 
Mrs. Clark who, after sharing so long the perils of these 
frontier experiences, is now detained in America. 

We especially commend this interesting narrative to the 
hosts of young people, many of whom are almost per- 
suaded that the heroic in missions is forever passed. Let 
them follow some of those distant mountain paths, cross 
the steep ravines and swollen rivers, face the wild tribes 
still waiting for the gospel, and marvel at what God has 
wrought among those who have received the message. 
They will then thank the author for her thrilling story, 
and some will not be slow to say, " Lord, here am I ; 
send me " ; while every reader will be sure to pray, " To 
such a harvest, Lord, thrust forth the laborers." 

This is a fine book for vacation reading. It smells of 
the forests, kindles the imagination, warms the heart, is 
better than a novel, for it is not only full of romance, 
but is true. 

William Ellsworth Witter. 

Ford Memorial Building 
Boston, Mass., June, 1906 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. Hill Tribes of Assam i 

II. Beginnings Among the Nagas . 5 

III. A Plunge into Barbarism . . . . T 15 

IV. From Dekha Haimong to Molung 19 

V. To the Brown Nest by Naga Trail 26 

VI. Among the Clouds 35 

VII. The Savage at Home 4° 

VIII. Savage Oratory and Visiting Cards 45 

IX. The Savage in Costume and at Work 49 

X. Savage Worship and Strange Legends 57 

XI. God' s Acre Among the Aos 64 

XII. Everyday Life at Molung 68 

XIII. An Elephant Hunt 79 

XIV. Our First White Guests 81 

XV. Ripening Grain 84 

XVI. Progress and Peril 93 

XVII. Trouble on Our Path 99 

XVIII. Glimpses of Dawn 103 



xiii 



XIV CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

XIX. To Merangkong and Temlu no 

XX. Opportunities Blood Bought 116 

XXI. From the Battle-axe to the British Flag . . 1 20 

XXII. The Naga Hill Suspension Bridge 128 

XXIII. Reenforcements 131 

XXIV. White Ribboners 138 

XXV. First Rally of Christian Clans 142 

XXVI. Molung to Impur 145 

XXVII. Among the Lhotas 150 

XXVIII. Tangkhul Nagas . . ...... „ ...... 157 

XXIX. Homeward Bound 159 

XXX. Daybreak 162 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Mem Sahib in her "Pull-man" (Frontispiece) 

Sibsagor Treasury, Courthouse, and Temples 5 

Naga Men in Ordinary Costume 17 

Assamese Traveling-cart 2 6 

Colonel Buckingham's Bungalow 28 

Mission Bungalow, Molung 3 2 

Molting Village 34 

Papia Tree, Molung 37 

Village Gateway, Nagas Going to Their Work 47 

Woman Ginning Cotton 49 

Trading in Pigs 5 2 ^ 

Women at the Looms 54 

Making Baskets, Drinking-cups, Dishes, etc 55 

Village Barber 57 

Pounding Rice 5 8 

XV 



Xvi LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Naga Cemetery 65 

Naga Village in the Distance no 

Going to a Conference 115 

An garni Warriors 116 

Home of Doctor and Mrs. Rivenburg, Kohima 119 

Naga Hill Suspension Bridge 128 

Mokokchung Post-office 136 

Mission Bungalow at Impur 137 

On a Preaching Tour 140 

A Government Bridle Path 147 

Impur Training-school Pupils 149 

Government Rest-house 153 

Mail Steamer on Brahmaputra River 160 

Young Evangelist and his Wife 164 



A Corner in India 



i 

HIU, TRIBES OF ASSAM 

I DON'T want the goat ! I don't want it ! I will not 
have it! Take it away, take it away," was reit- 
erated again and again; yet these strange, uncivilized 
men, down from their mountain fastnesses, still per- 
sisted in dragging up the steps of the veranda of our 
bungalow a large, long-horned hill goat, hoping to 
receive from us double or quadruple its value, and 
nothing short of landing it inside the house would 
satisfy them. Thus was I introduced to these stal- 
wart, robust warriors, dressed mostly in war medals, 
each man grasping his spear shaft decorated with 
goat's hair, dyed red and yellow, and also fringed with 
the long black hair of a woman, telling the story of 
bloody deeds. 

As I looked for the first time into the hard faces of 
these hill people, dubbed by the Assamese " head cut- 
ters," how little I thought that soon our commodious, 
pleasant bungalow, with its garden and its flowers, 
situated on the bank of the artificial lake at Sibsagor 



2 



A CORNER IN INDIA 



(Sib's or Siva's Ocean), would be left for a home in a 
small bamboo mat house in the mountain wilds. 

But first, ere we enter this hill country, a few words 
about Assam. Originally it was the valley of the 
Brahmaputra River, and for the last three-quarters of 
a century has been a part of the great empire of India. 
An alluvial plain of great fertility, about fifteen hun- 
dred miles in length, with an average breadth of fifty 
miles, it extends to the extreme northeast of India, 
touching Tibet and Burma and reaching far toward 
China. It is peopled by various races of Aryan and 
Mongolian stock, which differ widely in customs, 
language, and religion. 

Although Assam lies wholly within the temperate 
zone, its climate partakes of that of the tropics, ranging 
from forty degrees to one hundred degrees Fahrenheit, 
with an average of seventy-five degrees. The atmos- 
phere is very humid, and the annual rainfall about 
one hundred inches. This heavy precipitation upon 
an extremely fertile soil causes excessive vegetable 
growth and decay, and induces, as would be expected, 
much malaria and fever. Cherra Punji, an exposed 
point in the hills, has some four hundred and eighty- 
nine inches of rain yearly, the largest known rainfall 
in the world. 

Far away in the distant blues are the fountain-heads 
of the numerous streams which lave and enrich this 
valley. The mighty Brahmaputra— the great highway 
for trade and travel— plowing down through the entire 



HILL TRIBES OF ASSAM 



3 



length of this rich, fertile plain of Assam, cuts it in 
twain. As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, 
so, hemming in this beautiful valley, are the lower 
ranges of the Himalayas, populated by numerous 
sturdy and savage tribes. 

The majority of the valley people are Hindus and 
Mohammedans. Here and there statues of Buddha 
are found carved on rocks and temples. The religion 
of the hill tribes is animism, or demon worship, tinc- 
tured in very rare instances with Buddhism. 

The tea industry of Assam has created an enormous 
demand for labor, supplied mostly by thousands of 
Kolarian immigrants from Central India, who are de- 
risively known as Kols (pigs). In this rude population 
— largely demon-worshipers — is found a virgin soil, 
the richest in all this valley for gospel seed-sowing. 

Beginning at the western extremity, along the north 
side of the valley on the sub-hills of the eternal snow- 
capped Himalayas, are the homes of the Bhutanese, 
the Akhas, the Daphlas, Miris, Abors, and Mishmis. 
The last hold, it is believed, a comparatively easy pass 
into Tibet. Their trade route reaches Sadiya, the first 
^mission station in Assam. At the head of this valley 
China- ward is the large tribe of Khamtis (Shans), to 
labor for whom there came from Burma in 1835 Rev. 
Nathan Brown, d. d., as preacher and translator, and 
Mr. O. T. Cutter, with a printing press, as publisher 
and general helper. Passing the Khamtis, we come to 
the large Dehing River, through whose valleys and 



4 



A CORNER IN INDIA 



gorges, in the cool season, people from Northern 
Burma and the borders of China come into Assam for 
trade. By this route, early in the thirteenth century, 
came the Ahoms, who dominated Assam for five hun- 
dred years, and from whom the province is supposed 
to derive its name (Ahom- Assam ?) . By this route 
also came the Burmese when they invaded and* 
despoiled Assam, a little previous to the English 
occupation of this territory, in 1826. 

Through this Assam valley to upper Burma and 
China surveys have recently been made to connect the 
railways of Bengal with those of Burma. This region 
is now occupied by the Singphos, who on the Burma 
side are called Kachins. To the southwest next below 
the Singphos are found the various tribes of Nagas, 
who, with other people of like character, reach from 
fifty to one hundred and fifty miles across the water- 
shed into Burma, the Nagas stretching along the south- 
ern boundary of upper Assam two hundred and fifty 
miles or more. On a spur from these hills are located 
the Mikirs, for whom the American Baptist Missionary 
Union is working; and farther on are the Jaintas and 
Khasias, where is the very successful work of the 
Welsh Presbyterians. Adjoining these, and bordering 
on Bengal, are the Garos, where long has been the 
banner mission of American Baptists in Assam. Still 
other hill tracts are peopled by large tribes of the same 
aboriginal stock, who have yet to hear the first notes 
of the gospel of peace. 



II 



BEGINNINGS AMONG THE NAGAS 

IN 1 83 8- 1 84 1 Rev. Miles Bronson began work among 
the Singphos and Nagas. He prepared a spelling 
book for each of these people, also a catechism in the 
Naga language. He went into the hills with his family, 
but was obliged, after a few months, to leave on ac- 
count of illness, lack of suitable food, and accommoda- 
tions. An old chief came, bringing his sons, and said : 
" Go, get well, come again, but before your return I 
shall be gone. My hair is ripe, yet here are my sons, 
who will stand pledged to be your friends." By the 
early removal of the mission from Jaipur to Sibsagor 
and Nowgong work among that tribe of Nagas was 
suspended, and the descendants of the old chief have 
not to this day had the privilege of redeeming the 
pledge to stand by the missionary. 

A man from Merangkong, a village in the Ao Naga 
tribe, while living in Sibsagor was baptized in 1851 by 
Rev. S. M* Whiting. This man while on a visit to his 
native village was killed in a hostile attack. This is all 
that was done toward giving the gospel to the Nagas 
previous to the undertaking of Mr. Clark. 

In October, 1868, with Mrs. Simons, a missionary 
returning to her husband in Burma, we left Boston in 

5 



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A CORNER IN INDIA 



the bark " Pearl," a trading vessel of three hundred tons 
burden, bound for Calcutta via the Cape of Good Hope. 
During our voyage of one hundred and sixty days we 
put into no ports, sighted no land, were indeed prison- 
ers on the deep, subject to the storms and hardships 
incident to a winter on board a small trading vessel. 
For hardtack and bacon, plum duff and salt junk, 
" lights and sounds," we lost our relish. The water, 
shipped from Boston for the voyage, grew thick, then 
grew thin, and oh, the odor ! " Too scrupulous," the 
sailors said when we refused to drink it, but joyfully 
reveled with us in occasional fresh draughts from the 
clouds. 

When our little cockle-shell habitation was tossed 
like a football by angry waves, dashing and breaking 
and flooding the decks, while mingled with their roar 
and dash we heard the dragging of ropes and Captain 
Harding's command, " Close reef sail, stand by the main 
halyards," we were in no mood to write of the awful 
grandeur of a storm at sea. We could do that better 
later with a steadier hand. 

Occasionally the spouting of a whale in the distance 
or a full view of this floating monster, or the pulling 
in of a dolphin or a shark, broke the monotony of our 
daily life. At times we almost prayed for wings when 
flocks of albatross, rising from the waters and soaring 
majestically heavenward, seemed to mock us on our 
sea-bound craft. Great navigators we became, locating 
our position from day to day in the ship's chart, and 



BEGINNINGS AMONG THE NAGAS 



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mighty astronomers too — why not, with the unbroken 
starry expanse and no lack but instruments ! But how 
tame was everything else compared with sighting and 
speaking other vessels, inquiring by signals whence 
and whither bound, and what their last word from the 
land world; and if, perchance, we saw "old glory" 
hoisted, how our ocean home resounded with the 
genuine three cheers ! 

In due time we reached " far India's shores," and 
after a few days' sight-seeing and shopping in Cal- 
cutta and a few hours of railway we boarded a snail- 
like traffic steamer for the long, tedious journey up the 
turbid waters of the crooked, winding Brahmaputra. 
We " tied up " to the river bank each night and pulled 
out mornings at " the lifting of the fog." From fifteen 
to twenty days, and not unusually twenty-five, were 
consumed on the upward trip. In consequence of 
cholera on board we made our trip in fourteen days. 

Her Majesty's mail, too progressive for these slow 
boats, was " backed " the entire distance from Calcutta 
through Assam by relays of running coolies. Now 
comfortable little mail steamers ply these waters. 

In the travelers' bungalow at Dikho Mukh (mouth 
of the Dikho River) we passed a comfortless night 
with rats and cockroaches, and in wakeful fear of 
snakes and centipedes. We closed the glassless win- 
dows by drawing the hanging mats across the open- 
ings, and piled our trunks and boxes against the doors. 

The next morning several miles by elephant through 



8 



A CORNER IN INDIA 



the jungle brought us to a point on the Dikho River 
where we found a native boat sent down by Doctor 
Ward, of Sibsagor. The trunks of two large trees dug 
out, supporting a bamboo platform, furnished a deck 
on which a miniature house for cabin was built of 
bamboos and canvas. Our motive power was natives, 
who, thrusting long bamboo poles into the bank, ran 
one after another the length of our deck. How wild, 
and strange, and fascinating withal that journey! 

At a native village, where we tied up, a heathen fes- 
tival and worship was in progress, and all night long 
the din of drums, the blowing of horns, weird shout- 
ings to wake up the gods, together with the responses 
of yelling jackals, hooting owls, and screaming mon- 
keys, made confusion worse confounded. When within 
eight miles of Sibsagor we mounted ponies sent to 
meet us, and gladly galloped in, thus ending our long 
journey. Mr. Clark was sent out as superintendent of 
the Mission Press, and also to relieve temporarily in 
general mission work Rev. W. Ward, d. d., then about 
to take a much-needed furlough in America. 

Our first home faced a beautiful little sheet of water 
encircled by a delightful drive of just two miles. On a 
raised embankment of this Sibsagor "tank" are the 
English court house, the treasury building, the resi- 
dences of the English officials and the mission bunga- 
low; but most picturesque of all are three very fine 
symmetrically built heathen temples. However, that 
we might be nearer the printing press and our work 



BEGINNINGS AMONG THE NAGAS 



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generally, we soon located in an old bungalow on the 
bank of the Dikho River, about a half-mile away. 

As each cold season came around hill men came in 
for trade and sight-seeing. Our press building, with 
its typesetting, printing, and binding of books was for 
them the wonder of wonders. Some of the great men, 
dressed in their military costumes, came one day to 
our schoolhouse door and, manifesting much interest 
in what we were doing, were asked, " Wouldn't you 
like us to come up to your village and teach your chil- 
dren as you see these being taught?" A chief replied, 
" Yes, and we will send our children to learn." " But 
we hear that you take heads up there." " Oh, yes, we 
do," he replied, and seizing a boy by the head gave us 
in a quite harmless way an object-lesson of how they 
did it. 

From the broad veranda of the mission bungalow we 
looked out day after day, on and on beyond the vil- 
lages, across the rice fields, over the jungles of the 
plains, upon the mountains towering in silent gran- 
deur against the southern sky, as if watching for the 
feet of him who bringeth good tidings that publisheth 
peace ; and with our own Doctor Brown we could say : 

My soul is not at rest; there comes a strange 
And secret whisper to my spirit . . . 

and we told our Assamese Christians how we longed 
to bear the message to those distant wilds. They 
shook their heads doubtfully. " They are savages, 



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A CORNER IN INDIA 



sahib, village warring with village, constantly cutting 
off heads to get skulls." But my husband replied: 

" The voice of my departed Lord, 
' Go teach all nations ' . . . 

Comes on the night air and awakes my ear, 

And I will go." 

Our ardent Godhula, Assamese evangelist and school 
teacher, full of tact and courage, caught the spirit of 
advance and volunteered to make the first venture. 
Earnest, wrestling prayer was answered. A Naga man 
living near Sibsagor was persuaded to come evenings 
to Godhula's house, and while he talked about his peo- 
ple Godhula listened with open ears and soon could 
speak a little of the language. 

When the cold season of 1871 came around Godhula, 
with his Naga companion, started out for the tea gar- 
dens lying along the base of the hills, with orders from 
Mr. Clark to go no further if to do so would be at too 
great risk. 

At Amguri Tea Gardens, Godhula met many men 
from Dekha Haimong village and shared with them his 
own finer rice, smoked and talked with them, and grad- 
ually gained their confidence. But when he proposed 
to accompany them to their village home, ah ! that was 
a different matter. None of the " tartars " (village offi- 
cials) were with them, and what right had they to 
bring a " subject man," " a Company man " (one living 
under English rule) into their territory? But God- 



BEGINNINGS AMONG THE NAGAS II 

hula was not easily shaken off. " Well, come along 
then; we'll guard you on the way, but when we get 
there all must be as the tartars say." One night's 
lodging in the forest, and the second day brought the 
party to Dekha Haimong village. 

Godhula proclaimed himself as teacher of a new re- 
ligion, and declared this to be his sole errand. But his 
motives were impugned. " What do we want of this 
man's new religion?" exclaimed one of the chief men, 
among the first to espouse the cause later on. " Send 
him off," " Get him out of the way," " A spy, doubtless, 
of the ' Company,' " exclaimed others. 

A small rude hut was assigned to Godhula and a 
guard appointed to watch him closely. For two or 
three days not a man, woman, or child would go near 
his house. But when with his deep-toned, melodious 
voice he poured out his soul in the sweet gospel hymns 
in Assamese the people flocked around him and listened 
as he told them, in his own eloquent way, the sweet 
old, old story. Jesus and heaven were names now 
heard for the first time. The people coming up from 
their day's work at evening were conscious of a new, 
a different atmosphere. The influence of peace and 
love began to soften their hard hearts, and they called 
this rude grass hut "the sweet home," the peaceful 
place. Soon the bands which made Godhula a pris- 
oner were loosed and the freedom of the village was 
his. Famine, pestilence, and war, involving many and 
costly sacrifices to secure the favor of the deities, had 



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A CORNER IN INDIA 



so impoverished the people that many were having 
scarcely one good meal a day. In the failure of their 
own gods to give them help they were all the more 
ready to listen concerning Him, who, Godhula told 
them, was the Bread of Life. The great straits to 
which this village was reduced was thus under God 
the occasion by which a man was found in the plains 
as guide and a door opened to the hearts of the people. 

When Godhula proposed to return to Sibsagor 
women and children wept, and to do him proper honor 
an escort of forty men was sent by the authorities of 
the village to accompany him to the door of the mission 
bungalow in Sibsagor. These men seated on our 
veranda were a picturesque and interesting sight, and 
far-reaching and full of meaning was our conference 
with them concerning future visits. 

In April, 1872, Godhula and his wife, Lucy, a former 
pupil in Mrs. Whiting's school, started for the hills to 
remain through the rains. This was a bold venture. 
No one from civilization had before attempted it. On 
account of the difficulty of communication with the 
plains in the wet season, we seldom heard from them, 
but they were held before the throne in many prayers 
by the missionaries and the Christians at Sibsagor. 

The Nagas built a small bamboo chapel for religious 
services, and much instruction was given in the new 
religion. The reward was almost immediate. In No- 
vember Godhula came down from his mountain aerie, 
bringing with him the first-fruits of faithful labor. 



BEGINNINGS AMONG THE NAGAS 



13 



Even cholera in the plains, which the Nagas greatly- 
dread, did not deter these new disciples. 

It was a touching, solemn scene in our mission 
chapel at Sibsagor when these wild men, battle-axe and 
spear in hand, with stammering tongues tried to tell 
in broken Assamese, with help in as imperfect Naga 
from their teacher, of this newly found Saviour, and^ 
of their desire to follow in his ordinances. Not infre- 
quently as one hesitated in relating his experience the 
one next to him, having perhaps a little larger Assam- 
ese vocabulary, would come to his aid. Nine were 
received, and on the following Sabbath, on profession 
of their faith in Christ, were buried in baptism in the 
Dikho River in front of the mission bungalow. " It 
is all light ! " " It is all light ! " was their joyful excla- 
mation when later we gathered around the table of our 
Lord. 

These Naga Christians, now very desirous of taking 
Mr. Clark up to their mountain home, and having no 
calendar save the wet and dry season, seed time and 
harvest, and the moon's changes, fixed upon a certain 
phase of the next moon as the date when they would 
come and take him up to their savage wilds. At the 
appointed time sixty warriors appeared to escort him. 

The first night Mr. Clark spent with the hospitable 
English tea planter, Colonel Buckingham, at Amguri 
Tea Garden. The second night overtook the travelers 
in the dense, shelterless forest, but with plenty of tree 
branches and leaves at hand snug lodgings rose like 



14 



A CORNER IN INDIA 



magic. All night the Nagas lay toasting their feet 
around the campfire. This seemed to compensate for 
proper covering. Sentinels kept watch by turns, as 
here was an all too inviting prey for wild beasts and 
human enemies as well. For additional security the 
space around was made to bristle with pongees (small 
bamboo spikes) stuck in the ground. En route every- 
thing was done for the safety of my husband, and 
during his stay in the village no service was withheld 
which would in anywise contribute to his welfare. 

During this venture beyond the British flag and 
postal service no intelligence could be received from 
Mr. Clark; and not infrequently I was asked by the 
chief magistrate of Sibsagor Station, " When have you 
last heard from Mr. Clark?" " Do you ever expect to 
see your husband back with his head on his shoulders? " 
I need not say I was solicitous, yet from the heart 
there ever came the answer : " Yes, Colonel Campbell, 
I expect him back with his head on ; I trust to a higher 
power than the English government to keep my 
husband's head on his shoulders." 



Ill 



A PLUNGE INTO BARBARISM 

I BELIEVE I have found my life-work," exclaimed 
Mr. Clark as he entered the old press bungalow on 
his return from his twelve days' absence in the wilds 
of barbarism. 

During the three subsequent years Godhula and his 
wife lived a part of each year at Dekha Haimong vil- 
lage, to which Mr. Clark made occasional visits. But 
to the missionary, three days from his now chosen field, 
with no facilities for acquiring the language, the prose- 
cution of the work was difficult and unsatisfactory. 

Doctor Ward, returning from America about this 
time, eager for the work of Bible translation for which 
he was so richly endowed, soon closed the Book below 
to receive the Author's " Well done " above ; and his 
grave beside the native Christians to this day remains 
a sacred memorial of his love for them and his silent 
call " to follow in his train." Rev. A. K. Gurney was 
sent to carry on the work laid down by Doctor Ward, 
and soon after his arrival Mr. Clark, so long burdened 
for the Nagas, reported himself at Dekha Haimong in 
the Hills, March, 1876. 

To live beyond the English flag at that time required 
a permit from the Viceroy of India, residing in Cal- 

*5 



i6 



A CORNER IN INDIA 



cutta. On making application Mr. Clark received the 
reply that should he enter the Naga wilds he must do 
it at his own risk, with no expectation whatever of 
protection from British arms. The English govern- 
ment was still smarting from the recent rout of a 
large survey party sent to reconnoiter this territory 
and the brutal murder of Captain Butler with one of his 
native soldiers. But the call, " Go teach all nations," 
and the promise, " Lo, I am with you alway," nerved 
my husband to brave all perils that he might there 
plant the banner of the cross. Taking with him only 
the most necessary articles, he was soon settled in part 
of a Naga house, the luxuriance of which demanded a 
rental of about thirty cents a month. His cook and 
general housekeeper was an orphan Bengali lad, who 
had been our ward for some time at Sibsagor. No in- 
ducement could have persuaded an Assamese servant to 
accompany him. There in a crowded village, fortified 
by a heavy stockade, was begun the mining of this 
unwritten language and the necessary deeper delving 
to unearth the real character of these new parishion- 
ers. At first it was a presumptuous venture to go far 
outside the village stockade, not only on account of 
lurking enemies, but because of numerous hidden pon- 
gees, to step upon which would occasion severe, if not 
fatal, wounds. Far removed from everything ap- 
proaching music, the sound of the huge drum — the 
Naga tocsin— calling the people from cultivation or 
jungle, was not an unwelcome sound. 



A PLUNGE INTO BARBARISM I J 

The little band of disciples, with a few others favor- 
ably inclined toward the new religion, mostly men, met 
together from Sabbath to Sabbath to discuss with Mr. 
Clark " the power-filled doctrine," and one and another 
convert witnessed his symbolic resurrection to new- 
ness of life in those mountain streams. But Satan was 
not idle. The village was divided regarding this new 
order of things and far from one mind in permitting 
the continued residence of this white-faced foreigner. 
Neighboring villages were saying, "You will find 
sooner or later that this great rajah preacher is a dis- 
guised agent of ' The Company/ " " Has he not the 
same white face?" Glorying in their independence, 
these savage hill men were utterly opposed to any 
movement that foreshadowed in the least any alliance 
whatever with this great and ever-encroaching power. 
Adherents of the old, cruel faith were quick to see that 
the gospel of peace and love would rapidly empty their 
skull houses and put to rout most of the old customs 
handed down from forefathers, for whom they held the 
greatest reverence. The missionary's presence and his 
teachings had spread like wildfire from mountain peak 
to mountain peak and everywhere was fostered the 
suspicious spirit. 1 
Two of Dekha Haimong's young men of promise, just 
entering official ranks, had come out for Christ and 
were already veritable Aarons and Hurs to the mis- 
sionary. Hostility to the new religion waxed stronger 
and stronger. There was a division in the village 

B 



i8 



A CORNER IN INDIA 



councils ; repeated efforts were made by the opponents 
of Christianity to inveigle their village into war with 
other villages, and thus to overwhelm by a strong war 
spirit the influence of the few Christians, whose teach- 
ings were so antagonistic to their military ambition, 
without the realization of which there could be for 
them no social or political standing in the community, 
and for which they would willingly imperil life. To 
intimidate the missionary, a war party of young men 
ambushed one whole week for human heads, which 
they intended to throw down before him as symbolical 
of what he might expect himself in case he did not 
retreat to the plains. They returned, however, without 
booty, but racked with fever, thus affording the mis- 
sionary an opportunity of exercising some medical skill 
and taming their savagery. 



IV 



from dekha haimong to molung 
HE tillable lands about Dekha Haimong were lim- 



JL ited and had been much exhausted by frequent 
croppings. The prospect was poverty rather than a 
promise of comfortable maintenance by agriculture. 
Some three hours' march away was a good village site, 
occupied years ago by a people which had been de- 
stroyed and scattered through repeated wars. Dekha 
Haimong had for years considered a removal to this 
Molung crest, so rich in promise of abundant harvests, 
and now the adherents of the new faith, persecuted at 
home, determined to put into execution this long- 
mooted project. 

According to Naga usage, the foster-parent village of 
Dekha Haimong, named Sungdia, must be consulted. 
It, of course, disapproved, and, so far as lay in its power, 
tried in every way to prevent the separation. This delay 
only brought additional vexation and harassment to the 
little band of colonists which desired peace and the oppor- 
tunity of worshiping according to the dictates of their 
own enlightened consciences. One hundred men from 
Merangkong, a friendly village a day's march distant, 
proposing to join this new enterprise, it was decided 
to make the move at once, as it was fully expected if 




20 



A CORNER IN INDIA 



a start were only made Dekha Haimong, seeing the 
advantages of the new location, would soon follow 
en masse, and the Christians, having been leaders in 
the enterprise, would be in the ascendancy in the new 
colony. So on the day appointed the missionary, with 
fifteen families, bearing on their backs all of their own 
and the missionary's household goods, marched down 
through the gateway of Dekha Haimong stockade 
amid the jeers, taunts, scoffs, and threats of the vil- 
lagers, who shouted, " Go now, but you'll soon come 
back," and one man posing astride the gateway of the 
stockade indicated to them the humility and greater 
subjection under which they would return. 

Molung peak was then a dense wilderness, the haunt 
of elephants, tigers, leopards, and lesser foes. The 
new-comers arrived on the ground late in the afternoon 
of October 24, 1876, and for two nights the beautiful 
starry canopy was their only shelter. Watch fires were 
kept burning day and night, and yet they could not be 
allowed to blaze too brightly lest this attempt at a new 
settlement be discovered by the many villages crown- 
ing other peaks, which, always desirous of contrib- 
uting to their skull-houses, would at once make a raid 
on this helpless little community. To avoid such ex- 
posure their first huts of grass were built with roofs 
slanting to the ground in the rear and open only toward 
the plain of Assam in order to avoid any show of fire 
Naga-hillward, and Mr. Clark's cook was repeatedly 
warned not to give much blaze to his fire. 



FROM DEKHA HAIMONG TO MOLUNG 21 

Then followed the work of clearing the forest for 
building sites. Right here on the ground were posts, 
reeds, bamboo for walls and flooring, thatch for roofing, 
and houses began to go up rapidly. One afternoon 
men set to work on a house for Mr. Clark, and it was 
ready for occupancy the same evening. It was very 
small and Naga-like in architecture, intended only as 
a temporary provision until the families should be 
housed, when larger accommodations were promised; 
but, owing to difficulties which soon followed, this hut 
was his only home for upwards of four months. 

The new settlers were disappointed in the non- 
arrival of the expected quota from Merangkong. That 
village, having many wars on hand, feared so large a 
reduction of its forces, and " shut the door " against 
the removal of the one hundred, and only a few fam- 
ilies were permitted to leave. Dekha Haimong village, 
instead of joining the emigrants, as was anticipated, 
renewed its hostility, thinking thereby to force back 
to the old home those who had sought to escape its 
tyranny. They carried their bitterness so far as to go 
long distances in different directions endeavoring to 
instigate other villages to assail the little Christian 
band alone in the wilderness. 

The opening up of the crest of the hill by clearing 
land round about for the rice cultivation and burning 
the felled trees and jungle telegraphed to other moun- 
tain peaks around the existence of this new settlement. 
All sorts of rumors were now rife of the proposed 



22 



A CORNER IN INDIA 



attack of this or that strong village, against which they 
knew there could be no chance for defense. Even 
Sungdia village, the friend and protector of the mother 
village, Dekha Haimong, sent a messenger direct to 
this child of its ward to say that it was not worth while 
to expend much labor on houses or in preparing land 
for crops, as the former would soon be in ashes and the 
latter grown up to jungle, and that the white man's 
blood would flow quite as easily as that of the sturdy 
mountaineer. Then came the test; was their protector 
for many years now to be their enemy? Sungdia had 
too brilliant a war record for such a message to be dis- 
regarded; the situation grew more alarming; it would 
be hazardous in the extreme for such a handful of 
unprotected ones to try to maintain themselves in a 
country such as this, where badges of honor are 
bestowed as a premium for human heads. What was 
to be done? Many consultations between the mission- 
ary and the people were held. Mr. Clark, in view of 
the circumstances, advised a return to the home village, 
there to stand up for Christ and their rights, spiritual 
and temporal. " No," came the reply, " we will never 
go back to so bad a rule and such vexatious persecu- 
tion ; we will go with you, ' father,' to the plains of 
Assam, anywhere you will, but never back to Dekha 
Haimong." 

At last, after much thought, conference, and prayer, 
messengers were despatched to this threatening village 
with, in substance, the following: "We remember, 



FROM DEKHA HAIMONG TO MOLUNG 



23 



Sungdia, with much gratitude your kindness to the 
Dekha Haimong people, of whom we are a part. Time 
and again have you fought for us when in peril; we 
have only thankful hearts to you-ward. We desire 
most earnestly to perpetuate the pleasant relations of 
the past, and to remain under your parental watch- 
care. A little handful of us have come off from Dekha 
Haimong to form a new community, where we may 
worship in peace and quiet the one true God, of whom 
we have so recently heard. He is the great God who 
made heaven and earth and all things. Heretofore suc- 
cess has ever crowned your arms, but you cannot fight 
against the great Jehovah. Beware, we as your loving 
children entreat you. The white man's object here is to 
give you the very richest of blessings; for this only 
has he come ; believe this." 

On the reception of this verbal communication, this 
big war village, that had never known defeat, made 
reply after three days' conference that there had been 
many false rumors, misrepresentations, and much mis- 
understanding, and now Sungdia not only avowed its 
friendship in strong terms, but pledged its protection 
and support to this new venture. This gave much 
relief. 

In the apparent hedging up of Christianity in Dekha 
Haimong village there was much earnest prayer that 
some way might be opened for the extension of Christ's 
kingdom among these hill tribes. Was the planting of 
this new colony the beginning of a people for the Lord 



24 



A CORNER IN INDIA 



in these mountain wilds? The missionary resolved to 
stand by this people, to throw in his lot with them, 
trusting in the Lord alone for protection. More per- 
manent houses went up rapidly, work on the rice lands 
went forward. Dekha Haimong was now convinced 
of the settled determination of this offshoot, and one 
family after another gradually joined the enterprise, 
but there was no coming over en masse. 

The new village was formed without the accustomed 
heathen ceremonies to propitiate demons by great and 
expensive sacrificial offerings. It was determined to 
abandon aggressive warfare and to be known as a 
peaceable, Christian village, the first to have this ap- 
pellation in all this wild mountain region stretching 
from the valley of the Brahmaputra far away across 
the hills to the plains of Burma. There was, however, 
to be no law preventing others who might join this 
new community from worshiping as they chose, " no 
law to make Christians " ; but the standard of the cross 
was erected, the gospel of salvation from sin through 
Jesus Christ alone was proclaimed, and his followers 
were to be allowed to worship unmolested the one 
true God. 

Prospects had now assumed a decidedly more hope- 
ful aspect, and on my return from America, much re- 
cruited in health, I was permitted by the English 
government to join my husband in this independent 
hill territory. In anticipation of this coming the village 
authorities set the whole working force of the village 



FROM DEKHA HAIMONG TO MOLUNG 2$ 

repairing and enlarging the mission house, volunteer- 
ing one week's work gratis, meanwhile questioning, 
" Why, father, there are to be only two of you ; how 
can two people live in so many rooms?" (Three 
rooms and a storeroom!) 



V 



TO THE BROWN NEST 



S Mr. Clark has been able to keep his head on, 



J~\. now we will try yours," Colonel Campbell, chief 
magistrate of Sibsagor district, facetiously remarked 
to me on my return to Sibsagor from America, en 
route for Molung, Naga Hills. 

Our former mission home at Sibsagor, then occupied 
by our successors, Rev. and Mrs. Gurney, was still to 
be a refuge in case of emergency, as there was not yet 
sufficient confidence in the security of our new abode 
to move all of our belongings thither. Fire or foe 
might make short work of our possessions. A village 
going up in flame and smoke was no uncommon sight. 

An elephant, and bullock carts had been previously 
engaged for the transportation of ourselves and lug- 
gage the twenty-two miles to Amguri, at the foot of 
the hills. One mile from Sibsagor station we crossed 
the Dikho River and entered royal grounds formerly 
occupied by the kings of Assam. This broad tract of 
level land, once covered by hundreds of native houses, 
is now largely grown up to jungle. That portion 
devoted exclusively to the royal family, embracing an 
area of many acres, was enclosed by two parallel brick 
walls, within which were the king's palace, treasury, 




26 



TO THE BROWN NEST 



27 



and guard house. Their arched roofs, outer and inner 
walls, and floors are of heavy brick masonry, noble 
relics of ancient days. In these solid walls and floors 
excavations, large and deep, have been made in search 
for the kings' jewels and treasures supposed to have 
been buried there. A little outside the walled en- 
closure, located on the embankment of an excavated 
lake, is a fine temple of chaste, symmetrical propor- 
tions, named for the wife of one of the old kings, Joy- 
hagor, hagor meaning ocean, really Joy's ocean. A 
short distance in another direction, still in very good 
repair, is the Rong-ghor (king's playhouse). Sur- 
rounding this was a high wall, within which there were 
enacted plays, games, and contests with wild beasts 
for the entertainment of the royal family. 

Leaving these interesting reminders of the olden 
days, we exchanged the comfortable, civilized convey- 
ance of pony and cart loaned us by Colonel Campbell 
for the barbarous swing-swang gait of the elephant. 
Eight miles by our pachyderm under the piercing rays 
of a midday tropical sun, and we were glad to find a 
pony and dog cart from Colonel Buckingham, Amguri, 
awaiting us at another heathen temple. 

We soon reached the grand highway, Ladiaghur, a 
splendid road of eight or ten feet elevation, thrown up 
by one of the old Assam kings. All the great trunk 
roads of Assam were built by these ancient rulers, and 
are now kept in repair by the government. Branching 
off from this great highway we entered Amguri Tea 



28 



A CORNER IN INDIA 



Estate, and through a long avenue of nahor trees, 
beautiful in their varied hues and shades, we arrived 
at the fine, spacious bungalow of this flourishing tea 
garden, comprising thousands of acres and giving em- 
ployment to thirty thousand people. We wandered 
through the paths of this beautiful estate, visited the 
tea houses, and were shown the varied processes by 
which the leaf is prepared for the cup that cheers. 

As the native Assamese is quite satisfied with the 
support which his patch of rice or little bazaar affords, 
the tea planters, at considerable expense, bring an- 
nually from Chota-Nagpur and other provinces of India 
thousands of laborers to serve on their gardens. These 
coolies come with their all tied up in little bundles sus- 
pended from bamboo poles and borne across their 
shoulders. They usually make a five years' agreement 
under government supervision, and very frequently re- 
enlist for a second or third term ; their children in the 
meantime become helpers in leaf-plucking and receive 
free schooling. In time many take up lands of their 
own and become rice cultivators. 

One evening we went to a little settlement of houses 
on the outskirts of a garden, where we found a crowd 
gathered around one of our own missionaries, who was 
explaining the pictures from home Sunday-school les- 
son rolls. It was beautiful to watch the look of rest 
stealing over those bronzed faces as they caught the 
message, " Come unto me all ye that labor." 

To continue our journey hillward, early the second 



TO THE BROWN NEST 



29 



day the Naga Hills "goods train" arrived, men and 
women in large numbers, each bringing a native basket 
to be filled or the bark band to attach to a piece of 
luggage, all of which had to be arranged in parcels not 
exceeding about sixty pounds. The contents of heavy 
trunks were turned into the baskets, the trunks taken 
empty or nearly so. Five of the strongest men were 
detailed as my "Pullman" (pullmen), one at a time 
for my bamboo chair. The chief men, village officials, 
were also on hand, not to carry loads, oh, no! this 
would be much beneath their dignity; they were here 
to give honor to the occasion. Surely never was a 
queen more revered by her subjects than was now 
the wife of the Naga Hills' missionary by his parish- 
ioners. 

When all was ready, each man " backed " his chosen 
piece of luggage held by the bark band passing across 
his forehead. My chair was carried in the same man- 
ner; the whole presenting a long and decidedly pic- 
turesque procession. A half-hour brought us to the 
Jhanzi, crossing which we bade good-by to civiliza- 
tion. I kept to my chair as my ferry, while my hus- 
band's passage over was by a Naga's back without a 
chair. The Naga burden-bearing song with response, 
"Oh-hee! Hee hoh! Ha-hee, Ho-hum ! Halee-he, 
Ho-hum ! " with repetition and variation, now sounding 
on my ears for the first time, was indeed very musical. 

Our route was simply a Naga trail, first across the 
lowlands where grow in such profusion the tall, 



So 



A CORNER IN INDIA 



feathery, waving bamboos, intertwined and interlaced, 
forming pretty, fantastic arbors across our path, and 
not infrequently necessitating the cutting of our way. 
On and on we went, up and down the lower hills, cross- 
ing mountain streams, through forests of stately trees 
with delicate creepers entwining their giant trunks, 
their branches gracefully festooned with vines, and or- 
chids swaying in the breeze. For all ages past, unob- 
served and unappreciated, this wilderness of beauty has 
budded and put forth, only to delight the eyes of Him 
who makes even the desert to blossom as the rose. 

Frequent and numerous traces of wild elephants, 
tigers, and bears, and the chatter of monkeys forcibly 
reminded us that we were penetrating the regions 
beyond — were truly pioneers of a new enterprise. We 
were fast adding new and interesting experiences. I 
occasionally alighted from my chair for a little walk, 
a relief to my bearers as well as myself, but it was 
very certain that the long skirts from New York dress- 
makers were never intended for jungle paths and the 
crossing of deep ravines on a single tree trunk. 

My attention was directed to a precipitous descent 
on the left of our path, where, not long before, a party 
ambushing just above swooped down upon some 
travelers, leaving twenty-five bodies headless. 

With sharpened appetites we reached the Taero, a 
clear, rapid stream, and a favorite Naga lunching place. 
Seated on a clean rock, how romantic, how wild, how 
picnicky it seemed! European, Assamese, and Naga 



TO THE BROWN NEST 



31 



each partook of his own particular food, we from our 
lunch basket, the Nagas from a bright, glossy leaf tied 
with a rattan. Such a pretty glimpse of the valley of 
Assam down through the forest ! While we were rest- 
ing, some of our traveling companions were smoking, 
some scouring their brass and shell ornaments in the 
sand, others taking a bath in the stream below, and 
still others doing a little laundering. 

But hark ! We were aroused by the " Hi-ho, Hai- 
hum ! " and the rattling of battle-axes in the distance. 
Some of our party went forward to learn whether 
friends or foes were approaching. The response came 
back, " All is well," and soon two hundred men, traders, 
each with spear and battle-axe, passed by en route to 
the plain. Our train moved on again, the path rapidly 
grew steeper, the burden-bearing song louder and 
deeper accordingly. 

On a little open plateau, our procession came to a 
halt, and some one started a fire. We exclaimed, 
" Why, we are not going to eat again ! " " No, only 
make a smoke to notify the village that we are coming." 
Naga telegraphy! and that too, wireless, has been 
practised here for ages ! In due time the message was 
answered by young men and maidens coming hurry- 
scurry down the mountain steeps with bark bands and 
baskets to divide the loads and relieve their friends. 
Steeper and steeper, rockier and more rocky grew our 
path, men actually crawling up in some places, and I, 
in an almost horizontal position on the back of my 



32 



A CORNER IN INDIA 



bearer, reached down and placed my hand on the 
ground. The greater part of the elevation of two thou- 
sand feet above the plain is made in this last climb. 
How cool and invigorating the air! A long pull, a 
strong pull, and we passed through the gateway of the 
stockade into the village. The people were out to give 
us welcome as we continued on to the farther end of 
the village, to the home awaiting us. There we held 
our first reception on the front veranda of the one 
mission bungalow in all those savage wilds. 

Observing a generous pile of blocks and chunks of 
wood in the corner of the front room, used as a study, 
reception, and general sitting-room, I asked, " Don't 
you think it would be better to have the wood pile out- 
side?" "Why, these are seats for the Nagas when 
they come to Sunday services or to visit us," said 
Mr. Clark. 

The mission bungalow did not differ very materially 
in appearance from other houses in the village, save in 
size. " So big ! so long ! so high ! " was said again and 
again. Certainly the hills had never witnessed any- 
thing half so grand. For sanitary reasons, the house 
was built on posts raised a few feet from the ground in 
front, and as the house site sloped quite rapidly to the 
rear, as Naga building lots usually do, the back of the 
house was fifteen to twenty feet from the ground. 
The walls were of crushed and platted bamboos, which 
in drying and shrinking produced large interstices 
through which not only the sun's cheerful rays peered, 



TO THE BROWN NEST 



33 



but the winds whistled as well ; and not infrequently at 
night a lantern was the only light that would stand the 
breeze. In those early days the village was so small, 
and there was so much heavy work in house-building 
and clearing lands for rice growing, we were obliged 
to exercise much patience in waiting for many comforts 
which were subsequently added. 

Our windows were simply openings cut in the walls, 
hence we were easily suited as to size and location; 
pieces of mat were hung outside on a smooth bamboo 
pole on which they could be easily drawn back and 
forth. There being at that time no thatch grass availa- 
ble for roofing, we were obliged to use the long, slen- 
der leaves of the okshi. These leaves turned on one 
side, and three or four of the stalks bound together 
made not only long, but very thick shingles, and served 
well to shed rain except when lifted by strong winds. 

The doors of split, plaited bamboo we found very 
troublesome, as hung on rattan hinges they soon began 
to sag and scrape. Our front door was fastened by a 
bamboo latch on the outside. So, literally, our latch- 
string was always out ; but the Nagas had a very an- 
noying habit of pulling out the corner of the door at the 
bottom rather than lift the latch when they wished to 
enter. The whole house was tied together by rattans. 
There was not a nail in the structure. 

Our heater was of the style in vogue among the peo- 
ple. Four sticks of timber about five inches in diameter 
and five or six feet long were tied together in the form 



34 A CORNER IN INDIA 

of a hollow square, and bound down to the floor. This 
space was filled with damp clay, tamped down hard, 
making when dry a very good hearth, whereupon blazed 
a cheerful fire. Our house furnishings were simple, 
brought up to the hill-top by Nagas, or made by them 
on the ground. " Why live in such a house and with 
so few conveniences?" has been an oft-repeated ques- 
tion. Anything better than the Nagas could furnish 
was impracticable. No builders from the plains would 
come into the hills. It was most unwise to expend 
much time or money on a building within the village 
stockade alongside of Naga houses of the same inflam- 
mable material. There was, at that time, no security of 
property or life. 



VI 



AMONG TH^ CLOUDS 

OUR village, Molung, planted on the crest of a pro- 
jecting spur of the second range of hills from the 
plain of Assam, twenty-six hundred feet above sea 
level, commanded a charming view of the Brahmaputra 
valley. On the rolling land, beyond the extensive for- 
ests in the foreground, we could see large tea estates 
with their imposing bungalows and corrugated iron- 
roofed factories glittering in the sun. Far as the eye 
can reach, the early morning fogs of this valley in the 
cold season present a broad area of mist, rolling and 
tumbling like ocean billows in a storm. 

Dotted over this broad expanse are native villages; 
miles and miles of waving grain (rice) ; stretches of 
tall grass and forest jungle, and groves of graceful, 
waving bamboos, all brightened by the glimmering 
sheen of India's greatest river, the Brahmaputra, cours- 
ing onward to the sea. Still on and beyond, passing 
this "son of Brahma," tower the Himalayas, their 
perpetual snow-capped peaks kissing the heavens in 
the soft, mellow light. Here is where Hindu mythol- 
ogy tells of a passage from earth through the ethereal 
dome. 

Southward are seen broken ridges, mountain peak 

35 



A CORNER IN INDIA 



succeeding mountain peak, hurled together in wild con- 
fusion, rising higher and still higher to ranges whence 
the waters turn their course Burma-ward. How we 
learned to love the soft, fleecy clouds resting quietly in 
deep, dark glens, or sending their vapory sheets creep- 
ing up the hillsides in charming contrast to the dark 
blue mountaintops ! How grandly solemn too, in a 
storm ! 

Not to the domes, where crumbling arch and column 

Attest the feebleness of mortal hand, 
But to the hills, so old, so grand and solemn, 

That God hath planned; 
Touched by a light that hath no name, 

A glory never sung, 
Aloft on sky and mountain wall 

Are God's great pictures hung. 

In all this mountainous region the humidity of the 
tropics prevails, but without the oppression of the air 
of the plains. The maximum temperature during the 
rains varies in different localities from seventy-eight 
degrees Fahrenheit to eighty-eight degrees, and during 
the cold season the minimum is from forty degrees to 
fifty degrees, according to the difference in elevation. 
For four months or more, successive bright, sunny 
days with clear, dark blue skies give a delightful 
climate. 

Elevations in the immediate hills do not probably 
exceed six thousand feet, while before the water-shed 
is crossed between these wild tribes and " the land of 



ij 
I 

I 



I 



I 



! 
I 




Page 37 



Papia Tree — Molung 



AMONG THE CLOUDS 



37 



pagodas," English government surveys record peaks 
of twelve thousand five hundred feet elevation. 

Orchids, rhododendrons, beautifully colored be- 
gonias ; the tree fern, ground fern, mosses, creepers, 
and vines abound in great variety and luxuriance. The 
hollyhock, elder, gentian, morning glory, lady slipper, 
blue bell, the English violet, lilies, and other homeland 
flowers are here found of such gigantic growth as 
hardly to be recognized, and one is often pleased to 
find himself beneath the welcome shade of the familiar 
oak, walnut, or other well-known trees. The Nagas 
give very little attention to the cultivation of fruit, but 
nature, as if to show the people luscious possibilities 
in this line, has bestowed a liberal variety of wild fruits 
in the jungle, such as mangoes, oranges, limes, bananas, 
figs, crab apples, cherries, raspberries, strawberries, and 
others. Few of these, however, are edible; but it is 
probable that most of the products of the temperate 
zone could be grown on the higher elevations. 

The principal crop of these lands is rice ; but yams, 
tobacco, ginger, red peppers, betel, and a limited va- 
riety of coarse vegetables are cultivated. Cotton is 
largely grown, from which the people weave their own 
cloth. Manufactures are confined mostly to cloth, 
simple agricultural implements, axes, spears, cooking 
pots, bamboo mats, baskets, etc. Tubs and pails woven 
of bamboo or reed are made water-tight by smearing 
with the juice of the rubber tree. The indigo plant is 
used for coloring purposes. 



38 A CORNER IN INDIA 

The soil is composed of clay in some localities, sand 
in others, and in many parts is exceedingly rocky; still 
there is much tillable land. Coal, iron, and petroleum 
are found in considerable quantities, but have not yet 
become articles of commerce ; neither are they utilized 
by the Nagas except that in the war days petroleum— 
" earth oil "—was collected in bamboo tubes and 
thrown over the houses when the enemy desired to fire 
a village. There is a limited trade in rubber. 

Of wild animals, the elephant and wild boar are very 
troublesome on the rice cultivations. When the grain 
is young and tender, not infrequently at dusk, a mes- 
senger will bring to the village a report that ten, fifteen, 
twenty or more elephants are on the rice lands. These 
soon make destructive work, trampling down with their 
huge feet more perhaps than they consume by eating. 
Monkeys too, in great numbers and many varieties, 
help themselves freely to the cultivator's subsistence. 
Tigers and leopards not infrequently feast on a cow, 
goat, or pig taken from beneath a house in the village ; 
bears roam by night in these mountain fastnesses ; wild 
dogs in packs and many smaller foes to domestic ani- 
mals have their homes here. There is a tradition that 
the unicorn once roamed over these hills. 

A kind of short-legged hill cattle called mithan, 
Bengal bison or gyall, a fine animal of the bos frontalis 
species, is common, both wild and domesticated. The 
latter is used only in paying off war indemnities, and 
for great feasts which are given by the chief men of the 



AMONG THE CLOUDS 



39 



villages; one such feast sometimes costing, with the 
animal and other accessories, including floods of rice 
beer, five or six hundred rupees — two hundred dol- 
lars. This may call for the last rupee and not infre- 
quently incurs a debt of long standing. 



VII 



THE SAVAGE AT HOME 

NAGAS, recognizing that fever lurks in the low- 
lands, but more especially for protection in war, 
choose for their village sites the steep, rugged moun- 
tain peaks and ridges. The main approaches to the 
villages are exceedingly pretty, and often quite impos- 
ing. Broad, open avenues, kept clear from jungle 
growth, and bordered by shrubs of fine trees, among 
which the oak is a favorite, lead up to the massive vil- 
lage gates. The villagers take great pride in showing 
these, hoping thereby to impress strangers with their 
numbers, strength, and enterprise. 

There were formerly outside each gateway one or 
two ditches, ten or twelve feet wide and six or eight 
feet deep, corresponding to a dry moat in English forti- 
fications. These trenches were thickly studded with 
sharp bamboo spikes, and spanned by a single log, thus 
rendering impossible the rapid escape of enemies when 
attacking a village ; and when pressed into these moats 
quick work was made of them, and the village skull 
house lavishly replenished. 

The villages were also strongly fortified by stockades 
built of sharpened posts set closely together, sometimes 
in double rows, and about midway to the top was a 
40 



THE SAVAGE AT HOME 



41 



cheval-de-frise with its bristling bamboo spikes turned 
outward, impossible to be scaled. Imposing roofs 
covered the village gateways, and massive wooden 
doors closed these entrances at night. These heavy 
doors turned on hinges shaped in the hewing, and in 
the centre of each door was a huge knob, with an ori- 
fice through which passed a big bar by which the door 
was fastened. 

Close by the village gates, and high up in nearby 
trees, either within or without the stockade, lookout 
houses were built, and occupied by sentinels. 

Within and near the gates were the " barracks " for 
unmarried warriors, abounding in unmistakable evi- 
dences of an uncivilized and barbarous people. On the 
great central post (and one might wonder how such a 
giant timber could be brought by hand from its home 
in the forest) weije^CafVed very good representations 
of men, elephants, tigers, leopards, all highly colored 
in gray, yellow, black, and red; while skins of the 
favorite hornbill, lizards, snakes, and skulls — human 
and imitation — found a place in the various decorations. 
The young warriors slept with their battle-axes for 
pillows and their spears close at hand. Extra spear 
shafts and large quantities of torch material were kept 
in readiness. On a large platform outside guards sat 
smoking and lazily amusing themselves throughout 
the day ; village courts and political councils were held 
here. 

Nearby was the enormous village drum — a hard- 



42 



A CORNER IN INDIA 



wood tree trunk hollowed out — its larger end elabo- 
rately carved, and usually representing some animal. 
It could be heard for miles around. It was the tocsin 
of alarm to summon the people from their fields or 
wheresoever in case of war or fire, and was also used 
on festive occasions. 

In addition to the " barracks " and the watch-houses 
there were in most villages one or more public houses 
or sheds, which were a rendezvous for the men when 
idle or engaged in braiding mats and baskets or mak- 
ing culinary vessels, implements of husbandry, and the 
like. Later these houses have been frequently used 
for preaching services and Sunday-schools. The mis- 
sionary, when touring, sometimes made one of these 
houses his temporary abode. 

The dwellings formerly and to this day stand close 
together in order to occupy the least possible space and 
to be the more easily defended. They are always built 
with the gable fronting the street, the projecting ridge 
pole of the large houses, particularly those of the first 
families, not infrequently overtopping their less preten- 
tious neighbors across the way. On either side of the 
main thoroughfare in large villages, unless the slope is 
too precipitous, houses stand two or three tiers deep 
down the hillside, the elevated rear platform of one 
house extending over the front door of the one next 
below. Occasionally below the houses may be found 
a wee enclosure for a few vegetables, but these are not 
numerous, as cows, pigs, and fowls have right of way. 



THE SAVAGE AT HOME 



43 



Vegetables are mostly grown on the rice cultivations, 
often miles from the village. 

The houses of the more well-to-do are readily recog- 
nized by their size, and more especially their prominent 
bow fronts and conspicuous embellishments. Usually 
a cooking pot turned upside down, bound on the gable, 
symbolizes hospitality. Under the bow fronts are set 
crotched trunks of trees, memorializing heroic deeds 
or special feasts given to the village. 

The houses are built long and narrow with steep 
roofs, which project in front several feet beyond the 
outside walls, thus forming somewhat spacious veran- 
das, where guests are entertained. Numerous pigs, 
dogs, and fowls enjoy the shade, and much work is done 
there. The first room, answering to a front hall, ex- 
tending crosswise, has an earth floor, and is furnished 
with a large wooden mortar for hulling rice. The pig 
trough is here, and here the domestic animals pass the 
night, although Mr. Cock and Mrs. Hen usually perch 
farther on in the family room. There is never a chim- 
ney. In the centre of the house is the clay hearth, in 
which tripods of stones set firmly furnish supports for 
the cooking vessels. The bright, cheerful blaze at 
evening lights the house, while the smoke serves in lieu 
of mosquito netting and also protects from sand flies. 
Over this fire hangs the pantry — two or three tiers of 
bamboo shelves suspended from the roof by strong 
rattans. 

Hanging on pegs thrust into the walls are various 



44 



A CORNER IN INDIA 



articles, and every well-to-do family has a basket with 
a tight-fitting cover in which valuables are kept, such as 
expensive jewelry and clothes for occasional or holiday 
wear. The nest of the setting hen also finds its peg on 
the wall. 

Near the fire stand the bedsteads, which are also 
utilized for seats during the day. For strangers or an 
unusual number of friends there are always spare 
blocks of wood at hand. The bedsteads may be only 
a few bamboos placed closely on a frame or a solid 
plank with legs and pillow formed in the hewing. 
These are the favorite styles, and anything soft seems 
never to have been thought of, even for the sick. On 
one occasion when there was an alarm of fire a young 
man, seriously ill, was brought into the mission bunga- 
low, laid upon a mattress and given a pillow. Recover- 
ing a little from the shock the poor fellow exclaimed, 
" So soft ! so soft ! " while his attendants declared that 
such ease would " break " their sleep. 

The people are very social, gathering in little groups 
in the street under the projecting roofs in front of their 
houses or on the rear platform. Rows of women, each 
hunting pigmy foes in the hair of the one immediately 
in front of her, is a familiar sight. 



VIII 



savage; oratory and visiting cards 
HE Nagas, once civilized and Christianized, will 



X make a manly, worthy people. In stature they 
are medium and in color not so dark as the natives 
of Bengal or Africa. Ethnologically, they may be de- 
nominated Indo-Chinese or Tibeto-Burman. Their 
language shows considerable mental capacity. 

Each village is a little democracy managing its own 
affairs, except as other villages interfere either volun- 
tarily or by partisan invitation ; each has its head men, 
called tartars, who are the civil magistrates. These 
may hold office for a limited term of years or for life, 
or may be set aside by the village for unworthiness, 
unpopularity, or bad administration. They have entire 
control of civil matters, look after the entertainment of 
distinguished guests and of persons coming on official 
errands, and have power to impress the service of the 
village for any labor necessary to the well-being of the 
community. They have no salaries, but are well paid 
in perquisites and gratuitous labor. All higher offices, 
civil, military, and priestly, are held by those of mature 
years, the younger men not objecting to this, as each 
one hopes that in due time his turn will come. 

At inter-village councils the speakers exhibit consid- 




45 



4 6 



A CORNER IN INDIA 



erable oratorical power, and but one is allowed to speak 
at a time. Arranging his gay blanket in a flowing, 
graceful style over the right shoulder, he has free use of 
his arm for gesticulation, and improves the opportunity 
without stint or hindrance. In his right hand he holds 
his spear, and at the close of an important statement 
gives emphasis by thrusting it into the ground in front 
of him. 

A casual observer would never imagine the ambition 
for fame and glory that lurks even to this day in the 
Naga's breast. He is ready to sacrifice to the utmost 
that his praises may be sung and his name perpetuated. 
The highest type of glory of which he formerly had any 
conception was bravery and success in war. Village 
sites were chosen, planned, and built with reference 
to war, and paths were kept to the mountain ridges and 
highlands in order to avoid giving advantage to skulk- 
ing foes. Travelers went in large companies, and men, 
while at work on the cultivation of their fields, stacked 
their spears and shields near at hand. Guards and sen- 
tinels were everywhere. Women and children in 
groups brought wood from the jungles and water from 
"the springs far down the hillsides, never going singly, 
as the lower springs were favorite lurking places for 
enemies seeking human heads. Mothers, on leaving 
for their work, charged the older children, on the first 
alarm of war, to seize the little ones and flee at once to 
some hiding place in the jungle. 

Nagas have told us when war waged hottest they 



SAVAGE ORATORY AND VISITING CARDS 47 

did not even straighten themselves out at full length 
at night, but with battle-axes under their heads and 
spears at hand they lay with knees bent ready to spring 
to action. The heads of women and children counted 
as much as those of men, the long black hair of women 
being especially prized for decorations. It was not 
uncommon for a company of young men to bind them- 
selves with an oath to refrain from the gratification of 
some coveted pleasure until they had brought the head 
of an enemy into the village. Such trophies won the 
privilege of ornamenting spear shafts and battle-axe 
handles with tufts of hair, black or dyed red and yel- 
low, adorning their blankets with cowrie shells, and 
wearing boar-tusk necklaces. Men were dubbed 
women or cows until they had contributed to the vil- 
lage skull-house. Young maidens instigated their 
betrothed to this bloody work, and it was woman's 
voice that trilled the cry of victory when these prizes 
reeking in blood were brought into the village. 

On asking the population of a village the number of 
its warriors was given. The " visiting cards " of our 
guests in those days were brightly decorated spears, 
and each morning on my return from school the num- 
ber of callers was quickly determined by counting the 
spears standing in front of the door ; thus too the men 
at our Sunday services were numbered. 

The rice lands of two friendly villages were adjoin- 
ing. Ungma was much larger than its neighbor, Sung- 
dia, but the latter enjoyed a far-famed war record. The 



4 8 



A CORNER IN INDIA 



people of both villages were working their lands at the 
same time, when the Sungdia young women began 
chanting war songs, and with much braggadocio called 
out contemptuously to Ungma workers : " Oh, you are 
a great people, your village is large and your lands 
spread over much territory, and yet you dare not attack 
us, a little community, but too plucky for you; oh, 
shame! shame! you big Ungma." At this Ungma's 
young bloods were fired, and rushing unsuspectingly 
upon the Sungdias a head was taken, whereupon one 
of the biggest wars of the tribe was opened, which cost 
Ungma several hundred cattle and many pigs. 

Previous to annexation to British rule slavery existed 
universally throughout the Ao tribe. The slaves were 
frequently given to pay off war indemnities, and the 
harboring of fugitives often resulted in war. 



IX 



THE SAVAGE IN COSTUME AND AT WORK 

HERE is no degradation of women among the 



JL Nagas. Although not sharing directly in civil or 
military administration, yet in both of these they exert 
a strong, subtle influence, and emulate the lover's and 
husband's pride in war medals. Girls are usually be- 
trothed from the age of eleven to fourteen years, 
parents generally arranging for this union, but the 
young people sometimes make their own choice. Dur- 
ing the interval between engagement and marriage the 
young man makes himself very useful in the family of 
his betrothed, and when successful in fishing or the 
chase shares his booty with the anticipated parents-in- 
law, which attention announces the engagement, while 
the accepted lover keeps close guard over his girl, as 
his title aninuker (girl-watcher) implies. Either 
party proving false, the parents of the offender are 
fined, often to the extent of several cows or pigs; but 
in case of poverty, spears and rice are the penalty. 1 
Marriage is celebrated by the bridegroom simply 
taking his bride to a new home, but in well-to-do 
families a feast is served and wedding presents be- 
stowed. The bride's family furnishes the larger part 
of the necessary "setting out," consisting of one or 




D 



49 



50 A CORNER IN INDIA 

more new cloths for the daughter, a new sleeping mat, 
a wooden plate, a drinking mug, a winnowing tray, 
harvest baskets, and bamboo water vessels. These, 
with the bedstead and implements of husbandry, which 
the groom supplies, are considered a generous house 
furnishing. Remarriage in less than two or three years 
after the death of a husband or wife is not considered 
good form. 

Polygamy is not practised, and separations are un- 
common. Divorces may be obtained from the village 
court, or there may be a mutual separation. The usual 
cause of divorce is adultery, but failure on the part of 
the wife to become a mother is considered a justifiable 
reason for parting. Nagas are very fond of their 
children and depend much upon them for support in 
declining years. 

Housekeeping in these simple homes is easy. Each 
member of the family, taking his bark or wooden dish, 
helps himself, and when he has eaten, turns down his 
dish on the shelf suspended over the hearth. Dish- 
washing is optional. "Tom and Dick" are unac- 
quainted with bread, pies, and cake; pickling and pre- 
serving days are unknown. Does one wish a lunch to 
take to the cultivation or the chase, some cold rice with 
a little relish of dried fish, bits of dried meat, and red 
peppers are tied in a leaf, and he is off. Infrequent 
ablutions are performed at springs or in streams. A 
towel in the form of a rattan or bamboo splint scrapes 
the water off and nature finishes the drying. 



THE SAVAGE IN COSTUME AND AT WORK 5 1 

The boys wear their birthday suits with the occa- 
sional blankets until they are pretty well grown, hence 
there are no trousers out at the knees or coats at the 
elbows. The little sisters are clothed earlier, but with 
no ruffles or frills to tax strength and patience. The 
parents and little ones go to bed by the light of a bright, 
cheerful fire on the open hearth. The boys, as soon as 
old enough, go to the barracks to sleep, and the older 
girls collect at the homes of widows. The people get 
up in the morning with their bedding on — the blanket 
worn optionally during the day. For guests the spare 
bed is the best mat in the house. 

But there is real work for the women. While men 
do the heaviest part of the cultivation, they share in 
preparing the land, seed sowing, weeding, and harvest- 
ing the crops. And after the grain is gathered, before 
it is ready to feed a large family, much time and 
strength are required. First, the paddy — unhulled 
rice — must be dried in the sun, and while spread out 
on a mat a small boy or girl, an old aunty or aged 
grandmother, armed with a long pole, keeps watch for 
chickens, pigs, and goats. Then follows the pounding 
in a large wooden mortar, the chaff being separated by 
tossing all on a bamboo tray. The life of the Naga 
woman is hard — hard from the character of much of her 
work, but worse from exposure in all kinds of weather, 
sparse clothing, and poor diet. They gin the cotton by 
laying it across a smooth stone and pressing out the 
seeds with a hand roller, but among the border villages 



52 



A CORNER IN INDIA 



the simple machine of the Assamese for this work is 
fast being introduced. Spinning is done by pulling out 
the roll and twisting thread under the palm of the 
hand over the bare knee, at the same time running it 
onto a spindle held in the right hand. The shuttles fly 
swiftly through the little bamboo looms, usually fas- 
tened to the front of the house outside, a favorite place 
for a tete-a-tete and much gossip. 

The full dress of a woman, if we except her orna- 
ments, consists of a heavy cotton cloth in form of a 
towel extending from just above the hips down to the 
knee. The color is indigo blue, striped with fine red 
lines. For the more stylish there are woven into the 
cloth figures in dog's hair plucked from the living ani- 
mal and dyed red. 

Every person, old or young, has a cotton blanket, 
dirty white or indigo blue. The cloths of the wealthy 
may be gaily colored and ornamented with shells. The 
blanket is always worn by young women drawn around 
the body close underneath the arms, and covering the 
chest until motherhood. To this sparse costume is 
added a profusion of ornaments. Through the upper 
rim of each ear of the women is worn a triple-coiled 
brass ring about nine inches in circumference, held up- 
right against the head by a cord joining ring to ring. 
Through the lobe of the ears hang thick pieces of glass 
or quartz crystals about two inches square. Close 
about the throat are the " diamonds and pearls " in the 
form of pointed shells strung with carnelian beads, a 



i 

1 

! 



! 

! 
j 

i 
I 

! 
i 

f 
i 
I 

i 



i 



THE SAVAGE IN COSTUME AND AT WORK 53 

pretty adornment to these dark skins. Then follow 
many strings of beads of varying sizes, which, with a 
heavy brass chain, reach very nearly or quite to the 
waist line. Heavy brass bracelets encircle the wrists. 

Every Naga woman who is not sold into slavery 
when young has a pair of indigo blue striped stockings, 
which last a lifetime, tattooed in the skin. On the chin 
are also tattooed vertical lines, widening and deepening 
as they extend down on the neck, and in many in- 
stances crossing the chest in elongated diamond shape. 
This very painful operation of tattooing is patiently 
submitted to by the girls when twelve or fourteen years 
of age. The diet of the women, always meagre, is fur- 
ther limited after the tattooing. Very few women eat 
flesh, except fish, and none use eggs or milk. Their 
food is largely rice and coarse vegetables. All drink 
rice beer. 

Men wear merely a girdle about the loins, with a 
small apron. Those who can afford it ornament this 
cloth by figures in brightly colored dog's hair. The 
block of wood in which rests the axe, worn on the back 
of every man and boy, may well be considered a part 
of the dress. The men are not, however, without their 
jewelry. Large tufts of white, fluffy cotton are drawn 
through apertures in the ear; cotton is also made into 
compact balls and fastened just in front of the ear. 
Long brass tubes with chains attached, also tassels of 
brightly colored hair, are used as ear ornaments. Neck- 
laces of wild boar tusks, ivory armlets of elephant tusks, 



54 



A CORNER IN INDIA 



and bracelets of cowrie shells contribute to the warrior's 
pride. Those who have taken human heads may also 
decorate their scant cloths with cowrie shells. On great 
occasions there are also added rattan helmets, fantasti- 
cally trimmed with boar tusks, plumes of goat hair, 
tufts of hog's bristles, and the long tail feathers of the 
hornbill, the bird of victory. Hair cutting is done by 
lifting the hair over an axe and striking down upon it 
with a hard mallet. Men, women, and children smoke 
tobacco of their own raising in pipes mostly of common 
bamboo, while some of the better class aspire to an 
iron pipe skilfully manufactured by their own smiths. 
Babes in arms play with their mothers' pipes, thus 
early becoming accustomed to the use of the weed. 

Amid these exhibitions of taste so degrading and 
repulsive we observe with encouragement and delight 
the slightest evidence of some innate refinement. Men 
as well as women and children are often seen coming 
from the jungle or from the day's work with pretty, 
delicate wild flowers, or even a twig of fresh green 
drawn through the orifice in the ear. Our own villagers 
and strangers too often come asking for flowers from 
our garden. The Assamese costume of jacket and body 
cloth is now being adopted by many who have come 
under Christian influence, especially the pupils in the 
schools, but the habits of the older ones are still as the 
laws of the Medes and Persians. 

The harvest is a time both of hard work and much 
merriment. Pigs carried squealing to the harvest field 



THE SAVAGE IN COSTUME AND AT WORK 55 

are familiar sights and sounds during these busy days. 
In the cold season there is house building, making and 
repairing bedsteads, dishes, pig troughs, mats, and 
baskets. Bundles and bundles of rattan— the Naga's 
nails and strings— are the work of odd jobs. This is 
also the time for travel, trade, and war. In the baskets 
of the long procession of traders en route to Assam are 
grunting pigs and squawking fowls to be disposed of 
there, and rolls of nice new mats to be quickly picked 
up by Europeans and natives in the plains. In the 
baskets so securely bound over with fresh palm leaves 
are ginger root, red peppers, and bundles of betel leaf 
for chewing. These same palm leaves, the Naga's 
"green silk umbrellas," serve in chance showers to 
cover the salt brought up in exchange for articles sold. 

The bright cold-season days are frequently enlivened 
too by hunting and fishing, but the great civil event is 
the dress parade, when the military march through the 
main village streets and on an open space at either end 
of the village go through their drill, dance, and perform 
many feats of athletics. Dressed in the gayest colored 
cloths, caps of bear skins and of bamboo splints deco- 
rated with feathers, quills, boar tusks, tufts, and tassels 
of bamboo shavings and monkey tails, their appearance 
is most fantastic. Spears and battle-axes, brightened 
for the occasion and glittering in the sun, and newly 
decorated war shields add much to the picturesqueness 
of the scene. 

The Nagas, although a busy, hard-working people 



56 



A CORNER IN INDIA 



(the average annual income of a family is probably not 
more than twenty or thirty dollars), subject to priva- 
tion, exposure, and pestilence, are not generally melan- 
choly or morose, rather the reverse. Even their village 
sacrificial offerings are seasons of more or less merri- 
ment, and at their springtime and after-harvest feasts 
the blood of bulls and goats flows freely and the supply 
of rice beer is unlimited. 



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Page 57 Village Barber 



I 



X 



SAVAGE WORSHIP AND STRANGE) LEGENDS 

RELIGIOUSLY, these hill people south of Assam, 
not being grounded in the old systematized relig- 
ions of the East, and having no caste, are far more ready 
to accept the simple story of Jesus of Nazareth. They 
believe that the soul does not die with the body, trust in 
omens of all sorts, and consult them in every important 
undertaking. All their ills are attributed to spiritual 
agencies; diseases, accidents, sores, and the like requir- 
ing sacrifices of fowls, pigs, or cows. The sun and 
moon are regarded as deities, and are occasionally wor- 
shiped, as are also the spirits of officials and ancestors. 
The three important deities in the Naga creed are 
Lungkeezingba, Mozing, and Leezaba. Lungkee- 
zingba, the chief deity, is the god of destiny and is wor- 
shiped by the household. Mozing is the king of the 
spirits of the deceased; he is said to have been once a 
man and to have contended with another as to the chief 
rulership, failing in which he retired into the interior 
of the world, where he now presides over the realm of 
the dead. All departed spirits must pass to his judg- 
ment seat, where by certain tests their characters are 
determined and their future state assigned. Leezaba, 
although not the creator of the world, is said to have 

57 



A CORNER IN INDIA 



had a part in molding and fashioning it to its present 
shape. As not many of the Aos have traveled beyond 
their own country, their horizon embraces for them the 
world. Tradition has it that while Leezaba was busy 
with this world-shaping work, having the valley of 
Assam nicely leveled and finished to his satisfaction, 
he was about to commence reducing the hills to the 
same fine condition when a cockroach appeared bring- 
ing him word that war had broken out, whereupon he 
immediately left his work and never resumed it, hence 
the rough, mountainous, apparently unfinished Naga 
country. 

Leezaba is an important deity in the Ao village wor- 
ship. He has power to give good crops or to withhold 
the rain and the sunshine ; power to send famine, dis- 
ease, pestilence, and war ; power to permit or cause ac- 
cidents, small and great. A certain time each year he 
is propitiated by the village in a body in order to avert 
the above-mentioned ills. At this time no work is 
allowed, not even the pounding and hulling of the daily 
rice, and no one is permitted to be absent from the vil- 
lage, lest the whole sacrifice and service be rejected. 
The priests keep themselves in seclusion and ceremo- 
nially clean for six days, and each family must offer an 
egg on its own cultivation. The Aos attribute a spirit- 
ual existence and supernatural power to all their dei- 
ties. Certain rocks and pools are regarded as their 
abode, and are reverently and cautiously passed. 

On one of the frequent marches between Molung 



SAVAGE WORSHIP AND STRANGE LEGENDS S9 

and Dekha Haimong villages, Mr. Clark inquired why 
the path at a certain point made such a sudden detour 
down the steep hillside. He was told that an enormous 
rock, standing vertically and alone and in which dwelt 
a mighty and influential spirit, was up there, and no 
one must pass that way. Mr. Clark kept to the ridge, 
and to the amazement of his attendants walked back 
and forth unharmed before the sacred boulder. This 
direct and easy route, close to his lordship's stony 
abode, was gradually more and more ventured upon, 
and ere long well cleared and opened as a public high- 
way. It was, however, some time before women ven- 
tured on the path, but the old-time road has now long 
since grown up to jungle, and all sorts of desecrations 
are practised on that once hallowed stone by boys who 
have outgrown their fathers' theology. 

The Aos define sin as " unclean," " foul," " a stain," 
" a spot," and greatly abhor anything they denominate 
sin. They live in great dread and fear of it, and cleans- 
ing from sin is costly both in sacrifices and time. 
When a woman dies in childbirth all her jewelry, much 
as it is prized and expensive as it may be, must all be 
thrown away to be rooted over by pigs and destroyed. 
The death of any one caused by falling from a tree or 
any height, by a snake bite, or by a wild animal, is evi- 
dence of sin. For this last sin the seclusion of the en- 
tire village is demanded for six days, while the family 
in which such violent death has occurred must imme- 
diately forsake their own house and everything in it, 



6o 



A CORNER IN INDIA 



living in little huts built on the outskirts of the village, 
changing every few days from one hut to another, and 
keeping themselves entirely aloof from others. In the 
meantime some aged friend supplies their necessities, 
but must not speak to them. This continues until the 
next new moon, when the unfortunate family, fur- 
nished with clothing by relatives, leave what they have 
worn while in disgrace, and now, regarded as purified, 
emerge from their ostracism. No property remains to 
the unfortunate ones but real estate; their house may 
have been ever so good, it is now left to decay, and if 
they have crops growing they must not be harvested. 
If there are betel palm gardens (this leaf is much culti- 
vated and sold in the plains for chewing and is a profit- 
able source of income), the leaf must not be plucked 
for one year. Atonement for sin among the Aos costs 
something, and no strong argument is required to con- 
vince them of personal sin and the need of salvation 
therefrom. 

When Molung village was still small and quite sur- 
rounded by jungle, a woman coming up from her day's 
work on the cultivation was carried off by a tiger. The 
alarm was quickly brought to the village and there was 
a general stampede for the search, but increasing dark- 
ness soon compelled a fruitless return. At peep of day 
every able-bodied man of the village was ready for a 
tiger hunt. On finding the remains of the woman, Mr. 
Clark was besought to inject poison therein, and soon 
the much dreaded foe was found stretched lifeless 



SAVAGE WORSHIP AND STRANGE LEGENDS 6 1 



where he had taken his last meal. The animal was 
borne to the village in triumph and placed on an ele- 
vated platform ; and the shouts of rejoicing that went 
up would make the American " three cheers " sound in 
comparison like a drawing-room solo. The tiger's skin 
decorated the bamboo floor of our Naga drawing-room. 

In this incident there came to this new and nominally 
Christian village a test of sincerity, faithfulness, and 
courage in abandoning old-time superstitions. The vil- 
lage was " bound," and for three days the people sat in 
council, while we waited with deep interest and in ear- 
nest prayer the decision. We are happy to record that 
Christianity triumphed. In order to prove the honesty 
of their convictions, the whole village was rallied to 
work on the cultivation of the afflicted family, which 
would have been a most dreadful venture under the old 
conditions. It is considered an omen of ill to be 
the first to enter a village where a person has been 
suddenly killed, and no stranger will knowingly do this 
for one week after such a calamity. On the occasion 
mentioned, an embassy on important business was en 
route to our village, and immediately turned back on 
learning of the terrible event. 

From the abundant folk-lore of the Aos the following 
came to us ; its source can hardly be conjectured. Two 
brothers went fishing, and, successful in their catch, cut 
for a cooking pot a section of bamboo, thrust into it 
while yet alive a good, plump specimen of their game, 
added water, placed a crumpled leaf in the open end 



62 A CORNER IN INDIA 

of the bamboo for a stopple, and, putting the vessel 
over the fire, sat down to await their repast. On turn- 
ing out the fish when it was supposed to be cooked, 
imagine their consternation on seeing the creature flop- 
ping about fish-fashion, evidently unharmed! What! 
wouldn't boiling a fish kill it? Returning the fish to 
the bamboo, a leaf from another tree was utilized for a 
stopple, when in due time the fish was cooked. The 
brothers consulted together, and were so curious to 
know if there could be any virtue in the leaf stopple 
that they resolved, after carefully examining the first 
leaf, to try another from the same tree, whereupon the 
fish was restored to life. If there is actually a leaf 
which will give perpetual life to animals, why not to 
man? the brothers reasoned. They very carefully 
noted the kind of tree, and agreed between themselves 
to keep the knowledge a close secret. Subsequently, 
if a member of either family were ill, leaves from this 
particular tree were placed under the head, and the 
sick invariably recovered. These families increased 
and were fast becoming the dominant power in the 
village. They grew haughty, overbearing, and inso- 
lent, until those not in the secret could endure them no 
longer, and a plot was laid to annihilate them and their 
now numerous progeny. All were destroyed save one 
small boy who knew not the leaves for healing; hence 
a knowledge of a tree of life perished from among the 
Aos. 

In directing our attention to a certain prominent 



SAVAGE WORSHIP AND STRANGE LEGENDS 63 

mountain peak, the people have told us that in the sub- 
merging of the whole world ages ago this elevation 
alone remained above the surging waters. Have these 
ignorant people some tradition of the true flood? 

Again, Mr. Clark, in his Bible translation, has had 
no difficulty in finding an Ao word for " the fire that 
never shall be quenched." The idea too is advanced 
that in the last days men will be filled with all manner 
of wickedness, and that everything will be consumed 
in a great world conflagration. 

They also have a tradition that in the earliest period 
after creation man and all animate beings lived in 
peace, and that in the last days man will become very 
degenerate and all on earth will be consumed. 



XI 



god's acre among the AOS 



EEZING, the richest man in Molung village, died. 



His property was largely in lands covered with 
betel-nut palms and pepper vines, in cows and pigs, 
war accouterments and ornaments, with a fine house 
and more than the requisite amount of furnishings. 
He was a man of unusual intelligence and had a good, 
kind face. He never professed Christianity, but was a 
frequent attendant upon religious services, and always 
respectful to the missionary and his teachings. Early 
in his illness he sent for Mr. Clark to administer medi- 
cine. The disease not yielding readily, and the family 
becoming alarmed, preparations were made for pro- 
pitiatory offerings to the spirits. Christians pleaded 
with the family, and warned them against offending 
the one Great Spirit, yet the wife was unrelenting. A 
pig was slain, then a cow, but the disease still raged; 
five pigs and a dog were offered, but to no avail. Mes- 
sengers were despatched to a distant village to consult 
a renowned soothsayer. Other animals were called 
for by the diviner, but before this last demand reached 
the home of the sick man another messenger was claim- 
ing its victim. The poor penitent called for the mis- 
sionary, but alas, too late ! The soul had gone out in 




god's acre among the aos 65 

darkness. At once a dog was slain that its spirit might 
accompany the dead on its journey to the unknown. 
The same evening a pig was killed initiatory to the 
great feast to follow on the morrow, and the devoted 
wife continued all night to chant the praises of her 
husband. The following days several more pigs were 
killed to feast relatives and friends who gathered to 
commemorate the virtues of the departed. 

For several succeeding days, fantastically arranged 
in front of the late residence of the dead, were all his 
household possessions, and his war regalia, conspicuous 
among which was the shield of buffalo hide embellished 
with grotesque figures in white paint made of the cal- 
cined skulls of pigs. His personal ornaments were 
also on exhibition, while skulls, real and imitation, 
numbered his human victims. Skulls of cows and pigs 
and long rows of bamboo water vessels, symbolical of 
rice beer, represented his many and generous feasts to 
the village. 

The body of Seezing, by his own request, was dried 
in smoke before being deposited in its last resting-place 
— a not infrequent occurrence among the Nagas. For 
this process the body is suspended over a fire in the 
front entrance of the house or in the living-room, and 
remains thus for weeks, months, and, in rare instances, 
for a year. 

Just across the way, in striking contrast with the 
above, there lay in a Christian home the silent form 
of a much-loved child. A few flowers placed at the 

E 



66 



A CORNER IN INDIA 



head seemed especially, in this time of dense darkness, 
to shed a ray of light and a gleam of hope. As we tried 
to offer sympathy to the sorrowing ones the Christian 
father replied, " It is our heavenly Father who has 
taken from us our precious child." We gathered a 
little band of His children in that rude Naga hut, not 
so spacious and grand as the former, but where the 
blessed word was read, prayer offered, and the Spirit's 
presence gave peace and comfort. 

The Nagas usually set up a terrible wail over their 
dead, shrieking and howling long and loud that the 
gods may be assured the loss is sufficiently appreciated. 
These sounds borne to us, frequently on the stillness 
of the night air, have been indeed sad and heartrending. 

When bodies are not dried, relatives and friends 
gather material and prepare the coffins. These are 
miniature houses, almost a facsimile of their own 
dwellings, and much artistic taste and skill is dis- 
played in their construction. They are just large 
enough to receive the body; are tightly closed and 
borne away, amid the long-continued wails and lamen- 
tations of the family; then are placed on a platform, 
five or six feet above the ground, and covered by a roof, 
sometimes enclosed by walls. In the front of this shed 
or rude house are hung the cloths and ornaments of 
the dead, also the honored and much-coveted human 
skulls, habiliments of war, baskets, mats, and often 
rows of bamboo vessels, supposed to contain rice beer 
for the soul on its journey. The ground close around 



god's acre among the aos - 67 

is stuck with sharp bamboo spikes as protection against 
the ravages of wild beasts. The cemeteries are located 
just outside the village on the main path, and by their 
decorations ofttimes present a grotesque appearance. 

From the establishment of our Molung village, 
skulls as decorations were not permitted in its ceme- 
tery. One day a man brought in eight human skulls 
strung on a bamboo pole. A stranger had died in 
Molung, and his friends were bringing these where- 
with to dignify his last resting-place, but they were not 
allowed. For sanitary reasons, and for the better pro- 
tection of the body from ravages of wild animals, 
Christians and many others are now burying their 
dead. 



XII 



EVERYDAY AT MOLUNG 

BRINGING the gospel to these savage hill tribes . 
taxed to the utmost the resources of the mission- 
ary. A good knowledge of their language, habits, and 
character is absolutely essential for gaining their con- 
fidence and winning souls. Some knowledge of medi- 
cine also is of great advantage ; it is an open door into 
many homes, and puts an end to consulting soothsayers 
and sacrificing to demons. Medical works were there- 
fore added to our library. Frequent councils were held 
with our people on village and inter- village matters; 
ambassadors from beyond our borders came for advice, 
and thus many difficulties were settled in a satisfactory 
and peaceable manner which otherwise might have 
ended in bloody conflict. We were ever alert to show 
the people that we were not among them for the benefit 
of a single village, but for the best good of all. 

In our visits to these rude homes we were always 
well received. It was often difficult to climb over the 
high front door-sills when Mrs. Swine and her family 
were blocking the entrance, but, once inside, the softest 
block of wood the house afforded was offered us, and 
in gratitude for our call we were frequently urged to ac- 
cept a few red peppers, a squash, or other vegetables. 
68 



EVERYDAY LIFE AT MOLUNG 



69 



On one occasion a woman, anxious to express her ap- 
preciation of help received during her illness, drew 
from underneath a hen, setting in a basket hanging 
from the wall, two glossy eggs, saying, " Here, Mem 
Sahib, take these ; I don't know why they don't hatch." 

Many are the poor, emaciated ones in these rude 
homes, tossing with pain, lying on bare planks, with 
only threadbare cloths about them. There may be 
seen a woman in terrible pain, propped up in a reclin- 
ing position by blocks of wood; another affection- 
ately supported by her strong, burly husband, and 
mothers nursing children sick with bowel trouble, 
while at the same time giving them green corn or 
cucumbers. 

The people of our village were, in their way, con- 
siderate of us, and evidently tried to show us sym- 
pathy in our isolation; and yet, poor creatures, how 
could they appreciate what we were giving up to 
bring so much to them ! A Naga, returning from work 
one day, came up to us holding by the tail a huge 
lizard, and asked, "Father, will you eat a piece?" 
Perhaps we looked hungry. 

" What ye shall eat " was ever with us a question. 
The skinny fowls, scavengers of the village, were not 
always to be had, while beefsteak and mutton chops 
were strangers to our board save as they rarely ap- 
peared in the form of venison, wild pig, or goat meat. 
Eggs were scarce, and as Nagas do not milk their 
cows, we were deprived of this luxury, while vegetables 



A CORNER IN INDIA 



that we could utilize were rare; thus we were early 
driven to add the care of farm and garden to our 
labors. Our " corner grocery " was Calcutta, one thou- 
sand miles away, our necessities coming by steamer 
up the Bramaputra river to the mouth of the Jhanzi, 
thence by native boats to Amguri Tea Garden, and 
from there on natives' backs to our hilltop. 

One night tigers took three of our cows and several 
goats, and some smaller foe robbed us of four kids. By 
poisoning the remains of the cows, the second feast of 
their tiger majesties gave us two beautifully marked 
skins. Through this loss of milk, the butter on our 
bread was thin, and sometimes wanting altogether, as 
our tinned supply was largely consumed, and our far- 
away grocery required two months in filling orders. 

The difficulty of getting up our supplies in the rains 
made it necessary to stock our larder in March to last 
till the following November, and from every lack we 
must learn a lesson by which to profit for our next 
season's order. In that humid atmosphere our food 
supplies, though carefully sealed, often became mouldy 
and not infrequently very much alive, requiring sunnings 
and siftings. 

Ignorance of Anglo-Indian terms sometimes occa- 
sioned amusing disappointments in filling our Calcutta 
orders. For milk-pans came preserving kettles, and tins 
for baking bread melted at the first heating. " What 
are these?" exclaimed a neighbor missionary as he 
drew forth from the box he was unpacking two long 



EVERYDAY LIFE AT MOLUNG 



71 



strips of steel, each just one yard in length, " I didn't 
order these." " One pair of steelyards " read the order, 
and not the " balance " of British vernacular. 

One of our greatest privations was our slow and un- 
certain mail. Our nearest postal delivery was Amguri, 
fifteen miles distant, reached only by the fording of two 
rivers, which in the rainy season were swollen beyondk 
the Nagas' depth; consequently two or three weeks, 
and occasionally a month or more, passed without any 
communication outside our own dark parish. But when 
our mails did come, can words express our joy, how we 
in turn laughed and wept over the precious letters from 
the home land! After one of these mail famines we 
started off our accumulated pile of letters and clothes 
for laundering. What was our dismay when at night- 
fall our carriers appeared empty-handed. On their re- 
turn journey they bravely waded into the strong and 
rapid current of the swollen Jhanzi, but, soon finding 
themselves beyond their depth and unable to swim, 
they cast aside every weight, and thus our anticipated 
mail and fresh laundry went floating on and on, for 
aught we know, to the sea. 

On another occasion our carriers left Amguri late in 
the afternoon, but before the dense forest of the low- 
lands was passed two elephants charged down upon 
them. Surprised and greatly frightened, not even stop- 
ping to grasp their spears, they scampered as quickly 
as possible up the nearest tree. The elephants upset 
their baskets, and not finding salt or anything they 



72 



A CORNER IN INDIA 



cared for, began trumpeting, stamping, and tearing up 
the ground. Unable to shake down from the tree its 
human tenants, the elephants waited and watched until 
dawn, when the female sloped off with her young, and 
her disgusted mate soon followed. 

There was difficulty in early persuading the women 
that this new religion was for them as well as for their 
husbands and sons, and thus they were a decided hin- 
drance to the extension of Christianity in the village. 
It was with great difficulty that a Christian man with 
an unconverted wife could prevent sacrifices and offer- 
ings for the restoration of the sick. There would come 
the taunt, " Oh, you don't care if we die. You are not 
willing to give anything to save us. You have taken 
the Sahib's religion, and do not care longer for your 
family." 

Awaking one morning and hearing Mr. Clark in ear- 
nest conversation with a caller, I soon recognized that 
the trouble was concerning the old " Leezaba worship." 
The man was a professing Christian, conscientious and 
faithful, yet in his ignorance and great agitation of 
mind was seeking wisdom. His wife, very ill, was 
growing worse; and her relatives, rushing into the 
house, demanded a sacrifice for the demons. " I do not 
believe in it," the man was saying, " but what shall I — 
what can I do? " After conference and prayer the man 
left the house saying, " Well, I'll not sacrifice ; I'll not 
sacrifice, and I'll go back and tell the family so." He 
did it. Prayers were heard, and the wife recovered. 



EVERYDAY LIFE AT MOLUNG 



73 



A terrific gale visited us one night just at the open- 
ing of the rains. We had scarcely known anything so 
severe before. Awakened by the creaking of the bed 
and the shaking of the house, we arose, but from the 
unsteadiness of the house could scarcely walk. Con- 
tinuous flashes of lightning glared through the roofing, 
lifted by the wind. It seemed certain that the house 
must go. I exclaimed, " Let us get out, go into a Naga 
hut, somewhere nearer the ground" (our house was 
raised on high posts). Mr. Clark replied, " Why, you 
cannot stand on the hill." We soon found a place of 
safety, and it was awfully sublime to listen to the roar- 
ing of the winds, sweeping from mountain peak to 
mountain peak, as they welled up through the grand 
old forest, and burst in wrathful fury over our unpro- 
tected hilltop. But He who commands the winds and 
the waves had said, " Hitherto." The next morning 
found us not exactly in ruins, but in such a plight! 
The village head men came to inquire after us, and the 
service of the village was placed at our disposal. 

Foggy, lonely days, there were at times ; weeks and 
weeks of these in the long season of drizzling rain and 
drifting fog, driving through our mat walls, when our 
open fire on the hearth failed to keep us dry. " Oh, 
the mould ! how it gathers on the walls ! would it were 
only on the walls!" wrote Emily Judson. But sun- 
shine followed, walls dried, carriers went for the mails, 
and all was well again. 

For a little change of scene a trip to our nearest 



74 



A CORNER IN INDIA 



village was decided upon. A ticket for the outing, in 
the form of three men for my chair, was secured, and we 
started, accompanied by a goodly number of our people. 
Arriving at the village we were very hospitably enter- 
tained at the home of one of the " first families." Rice 
beer and a leaf for chewing being offered us and re- 
fused, our hostess asked, " Well, what do you eat and 
drink?" A bystander suggesting sugar cane, it was 
quickly brought, which out of politeness we accepted. 
So pleased were the people with our visit that the 
killing of a pig for a feast was proposed. This, of 
course, was not permitted. They urged us to spend the 
night, promising comfortable quarters, a fowl, eggs, 
and vegetables. Declining this invitation, it was in- 
sisted that we must, at least, take a fowl home with us. 
On our return fifteen men from distant Merangkong 
village were awaiting an interview. 

Not infrequently there came change and variety of 
a different character — changes unsought. I quote from 
my journal : " Just at evening, coming up through the 
village gate and passing our bungalow, were twenty- 
four men dressed in all the habiliments of war, bamboo 
splint hats trimmed with wild boar tusks, the red 
band, an unmistakable insignia of bloody deeds, battle- 
axes, spears, and shields highly embellished, and the 
feathers of their favorite bird indicative of victory. As 
their coming had been heralded by the previous ar- 
rival of messengers, there was no special alarm. Al- 
though professing friendship, it was contrary to custom 



EVERYDAY LIFE AT MOLUNG 



75 



to enter a friendly village with all this paraphernalia of 
war. The authorities ordered the men disarmed. They 
stoutly objected, but the command was peremptory; so 
arms were stacked in front of our veranda, which now 
presented its gayest appearance. The following morn- 
ing twenty more men of this party arrived ; being slow 
to make known their business they were zealously 
watched, and it was soon learned that they were really 
on the war-path and had come to consult a renowned 
soothsayer, now stopping in Molung." 

As further illustration of life in this land of war, I 
cite another instance. While taking one day our five 
o'clock tea, suddenly we heard screams from women 
and children; saw mothers hurrying with their little 
ones in arms and dragging others after them, and boys 
and girls running past our window helter-skelter down 
the hillside toward the jungle. Our servant exclaimed, 
" There is war, Mem Sahib, there is war ! " and, as if in 
the same breath, the alarm was sounded throughout the 
village. We were now thoroughly aroused. Mr. Clark 
went to the door; there was great excitement in the 
village, people running to and fro. I put on my hat 
and began making hasty preparations for a night and 
more, if need be, in the jungle. But before we got off 
messengers from the village hastened to inform us that 
all was well. Warriors from another village friendly 
to Molung, returning from the conflict dressed in their 
war regalia, had unceremoniously entered within our 
gates; the women and children seeing them were 



y6 A CORNER IN INDIA 

frightened, hence gave the alarm which others quickly 
caught up, and there was confusion and commotion on 
all sides. In the meantime the strange guests added to 
the fright by running hither and thither, trying to as- 
sure the people that they were friends and that no 
hostility was contemplated. They were, however, 
severely reprimanded by the village authorities. 

In these early days among the Nagas, alarms like 
the above were of no uncommon occurrence. Molung 
was weak in able-bodied men— warriors ; hence every 
one was on the alert, watchful and suspicious. It was 
not uncommon that weaker villages were ravaged by 
the stronger, simply for heads. Every night there were 
guards at our gateways and exposed points about the 
village ; and there were always some men detained in 
the village during the day. There was kept on our 
bamboo bedpost a bag containing certain valuable arti- 
cles which could be picked up quickly in the emergency 
of a hasty flight ; this bag also contained bits of cloth 
and paper to strew along my way, in order that I might 
be traced, in case of separation from others. 

There came messengers from brave and warlike 
Sungdia, unable to combat with smallpox which had 
broken out there and in neighboring villages. The 
Nagas have great dread of this disease, and when it 
rages badly their only remedy is temporarily to aban- 
don the village and scatter, two or three families living 
together here and there in the jungle until the epidemic 
is stayed. These Sungdia men asked that Godhula 



EVERYDAY LIFE AT MOLUNG 



77 



might go and do for them what had so success- 
fully been accomplished in Merangkong village under 
like circumstances. We happened to have a good quan- 
tity of fresh lymph, recently furnished us by an Eng- 
lish civil surgeon. The circumstances were made 
known to Godhula and the decision left entirely with 
him. To reach Sungdia village was a three days' jour-, 
ney, and much of the way through a war country ; he 
would also be at the mercy of warriors during his en- 
tire absence. But, appreciating this opportunity of 
making known the message of eternal life, Godhula 
quickly replied, " Sahib, give me the lymph and I will 
go." The disease was controlled in a great measure, 
the village became our friends, and the gospel was 
preached to the people. 

It is not necessary to refer to my journal to recall 
experiences of severe illness at the mission bungalow, 
with no physician near. 

After our first nine months' sojourn in our own par- 
ish without having seen a white face, we made a brief 
visit to our old first mission home, Sibsagor. How 
we did enjoy a little touch again with civilization ; fel- 
lowship with our missionary and English friends, As- 
samese Christians, and even the warm greetings of our 
heathen neighbors were very pleasant. Arranging to 
return by bullock cart and elephant, Colonel Campbell 
very kindly asked, " Why not go via the tea gardens? 
It is a little farther, but so much pleasanter. I'll send 
you by pony trap to Nazira ; the superintendent of the 



78 



A CORNER IN INDIA 



Assam Tea Company will help you to Hati Poti gar- 
den ; Hati Poti will see you to Deo Pani ; and Deo Pani 
will land you at Amguri ; you will find friends and good 
accommodations all the way." We did, and most ap- 
preciative and thankful we were for all. At Amguri 
my hill-chair awaited me and we were in due time 
again on the hilltop. Such a hearty welcome back 
from the people! One of our parishioners exclaimed, 
" There has been no flavor in my food since the Sahib 
and Mem Sahib have been away." 

Later, Mr. Clark was invited to meet at Amguri the 
Viceroy of India on a tour through Assam, for an in- 
terview in the interest of the hill tribes. To return the 
same day involved a thirty-mile walk which terminated 
at midnight and after many difficulties. The night was 
fearfully dark and their path was lighted only by the 
ignis fatuus which was bound on the sheath of each 
man's battleaxe; the procession thus in Indian file, 
each forward man became a light to his follower. 



XIII 



AN ELEPHANT HUNT 

IN the early days of Molung village, while the jungle 
grew close up around the houses and the wild in- 
habitants of the forest had scarcely realized our in- 
vasion of their territory, just at dusk one evening, some 
boys were coming up from the village grocery (a bam- 
boo grove) with their baskets filled with luscious, 
young bamboo sprouts which, when pounded into pulp, 
constitute the Nagas' saccharine material. The hind- 
most boy felt something pulling and tugging at his 
basket; and looking back spied an elephant, " trunk- 
ing" his sweets. Dropping his load he sped to the 
village and gave the alarm. The people were just com- 
ing in from their work, and it was too late for the chase 
that night ; but the blood of these nimrods was stirred, 
and they would not sleep until they had exacted a 
promise from Mr. Clark to join them with his gun in 
the hunt on the morrow. " It is very dangerous, 
father," they said, " for an elephant to be thus wander- 
ing at will about the village. He is probably a ' rogue 
elephant' (a solitary, maddened one). Why, our 
women and children will not dare venture outside after 
firewood or water, and what will then be left of our 
ripening grain? Then too, we are so hungry, father, 

79 



8o 



A CORNER IN INDIA 



we have been so long, you know, without meat, and 
here will be such a haul." 

Very early the next morning the hunters were at our 
door. They soon struck the huge footprints of their 
game and traced his long route by the broken and 
bent shrubs, bamboos, and tall jungle grass through 
which his monstrous body had made a path. The sun 
was sinking low in the west, when, hark! a crushing 
and crunching among the bamboos was heard; slowly 
and stealthily the hunters advanced. Hush, sh-h ! sh-h ! 
on, on, quietly and cautiously. Bang ! and by one well- 
directed shot this mass of living flesh fell to the ground. 
The forest rang with shouts and yells. 

It was already dusk and the hunters were alone in 
the wilderness far from their homes, but nothing could 
persuade them to leave their prize until their baskets 
were filled. "Delicious meat ! so good !" they exclaimed 
over and over again. 

On every little eminence on their homeward journey 
they halted, formed a circle, and shouted. When within 
about a mile of the village, this telephone prevailed, 
and down the hill, pell-mell, came the village in force, 
men, women, and children with flaming torches, and 
yells of welcome. There was meat enough now to tide 
the people over the famine to the reaping time. This 
may seem a small matter, but it proved a strong tie in 
binding the people to their religious teacher. 



XIV 



OUR FIRST WHITE) GUESTS 

ERE a second year had passed in our new home, we 
received a note from our nearest white neighbor, 
Colonel Buckingham, saying that ten of the English 
gentlemen from the tea gardens lying along the base 
of the hills would like to come up and pay us a visit. 
Of course we returned a most cordial and hearty invi- 
tation. Although ten persons would be a large party 
for our limited accommodations, yet, as usual with 
travelers in India, they would bring their bedding. 
Nagas, always ready to lend a hand in our emergen- 
cies, were called in, and in no very long time bedsteads, 
seats, and other necessaries were provided, and the im- 
portant question, "What shall we eat?" soon settled, 
when a young animal from our herd, dressed ready for 
use, hung in the " godown." 

For only about four miles from Amguri was the path 
suitable for ponies, thence the guests must take to their 
feet. One ingenious planter, however, determining to 
further utilize his pony, passed around his own body 
a strap which he attached to the animal, and had only 
to keep his feet going while he was drawn along; but 
soon the path became too rough and rocky even for 
this mode of locomotion. 

f 81 



82 



A CORNER IN INDIA 



Our guests were expected for the accustomed mid- 
day India breakfast, but having frequently seen our 
Nagas go back and forth, they mistook the distance 
and the difficulties of travel, and it was past noon when 
two young men, the first of the party, arrived, their 
faces blood-red and dripping with perspiration ; others 
followed in the same condition, quite exhausted, all 
declaring they had had no conception of either the dis- 
tance or the roughness and steepness of the path. 
Another of the party came hurriedly, saying that a 
middle-aged gentleman, a barrister, recently out from 
England, was at the base of the hill utterly unable to 
make the last ascent. The villagers, indulging in a 
holiday in honor of this occasion, as well as to be in 
readiness for any desired service, were quite in their 
element for such an emergency, and soon settled the 
question of getting up our distinguished visitor. Sev- 
eral strong young men ran down the hill to the rescue, 
and placing a rattan rope around the body of the 
gentleman, proceeded to draw him up the hill. 

We sat down to breakfast at three o'clock, a cheer- 
ful, social, hungry party. After breakfast our friends 
went out to view the charming scenery, of which they 
expressed great appreciation. They were also shown 
" about the town/' examined the military barracks, the 
village stockade, gateways, and so on to the cemetery 
outside. Later followed afternoon tea and still later 
dinner. This was a delightful break in the monotony 
of our everyday life. 



OUR FIRST WHITE GUESTS 



83 



This visit occurred late in the dry season, before the 
setting in of the rains, while the mountain streams were 
dry and the springs low. With many baths — as to 
entertain guests in the tropics without baths would be 
like an Indian breakfast without curry — and the in- 
creased demand for water for general and culinary pur- 
poses, the villagers told us, when the party left, there 
was scarcely a vessel of water in the village. 

Fifty rupees were left with us by Colonel Bucking- 
ham whereby came our first schoolhouse. 

Later another gift from the same source " to be used 
as you see best for the good of the Nagas " helped to 
repair and furnish the chapel with benches. The iron 
standards were brought from Calcutta, while the Nagas 
hewed out the planks for seats. 

The adjustment of the Nagas to these advanced ac- 
commodations was amusing. Some of the men looked 
for a moment, then stepped up on the seats and sat 
down on their feet. The women, a little more modest, 
stood, as if considering for a little what was most fit- 
ting to do; then some sat down properly, others put 
their children on the seats while they themselves sat 
on the floor in front. Soon, however, all accommo- 
dated themselves to the new arrangement with no little 
merriment and with much appreciation. 



XV 



RIPENING GRAIN 

ON beginning our work among this people, two of 
the most intelligent men of the village were chosen 
to come to the bungalow morning by morning to talk 
with us, rather to permit us to pick from their mouths, 
or throats, it seemed, their unwritten language. We 
gave these men one rupee (thirty-three cents) each — 
very good pay — for eight lessons. They kept their ac- 
count by creases on a rattan thrust in our bamboo wall ; 
and whenever there were eight breaks they said, 
" Here, father, is not one rupee due us? " 

In reducing the language to writing we used the 
Roman character. The expense of printing our first 
primer was borne by Mr. Godby's Bible class of boys 
of the First Baptist Church, Newark, N. J. On open- 
ing our first school the children came pouring in as if 
for a holiday; but, as soon as they understood that 
quiet and attention were the rule, all was changed. 
Then, to get them in at all, it was necessary to hold 
our session in the early morning, before the day's work 
in the field began and, even then, we were never cer- 
tain whether they would be in the schoolroom or, 
like monkeys, in the trees, on the roofs of the houses 
or some other place. But gradually there came to be 
84 



RIPENING GRAIN 85 

some appreciation of what educated boys and girls 
might be and do. 

A few larger girls whose work would not permit 
their attendance mornings, came each evening to the 
bungalow, chatting merrily, lighting their path with 
torches or firebrands. After an hour with books, sew- 
ing, and conversation about the new religion and other 
matters, the torches were brought to a blaze, a pleas- 
ant good-night salaam was given, and these bright, 
happy girls were off — girls whom any one might enjoy 
the effort to elevate! 

One evening when the people were gathered in good- 
ly numbers at the mission bungalow for the usual 
prayer meeting, Tungbangla, one of the schoolgirls, 
arose and said, " I believe on this Jesus, accept him as 
my only Saviour, and I wish to be numbered among 
his followers." Her's was the first Naga woman's 
voice ever heard making the great confession. How 
bright and beautiful, how hallowed seemed the dark 
and dingy room thus lightened by the presence of the 
life-giving Spirit ! 

Tungbangla and Noksangla, schoolgirl associates, 
were soon baptized, and these with another school- 
girl, were often heard in their own humble abodes 
at the hour for retiring offering up their simple peti- 
tions to the true God. Tungbangla became a valuable 
helper, teaching in our day-school, and visiting with 
me from house to house. Often our audiences were 
long rows of women, each hunting in the hair of the 



86 



A CORNER IN INDIA 



one before her. We frequently came upon some moth- 
er pressing a dying child to her bosom and screaming 
into its mouth, " O my baby, come back, come back." 
These wild people often shake the dying, set them up- 
right, blow in their eyes to prevent their closing, and 
blow sparks up the nose to call back the departing 
spirit. When urged to allow their friends to lie quietly 
on their plank beds to pass away in peace, they think 
us unsympathetic and cold-hearted. 

Tungbangla was the first in our parish to receive 
Christian marriage. We were called up early one 
morning for this wedding, in order that she and her 
chosen one might go out to the rice-field for the day's 
work. Her husband proving shiftless, lazy, and im- 
provident, she applied to the village court for divorce. 
The court asked, " Did not the missionary marry you? " 
" Yes/' " Then we can do nothing about it," was the 
verdict quickly rendered. Later they moved to Yazang 
village, where Tungbangla gathered a little day-school, 
and taught the Scriptures. On one of our visits several 
who had accepted the truth were baptized and organ- 
ized into a little church, choosing as their pastor an 
elderly man from Molung, who served them for one 
dollar a month and his rice. Later this little flock 
built a chapel and a house for their preacher. 

In returning from Yazang we found the river 
swollen, and there was much discussion as to how the 
Mem Sahib should be gotten over. " Too much cloth ! 
Too much shoe and stocking ! " they exclaimed. As 



RIPENING GRAIN 



the water reached only to their armpits, Mr. Clark 
said, " Oh, they'll take you over easily." Whereupon 
drawing myself up into as small a compass as possible, 
the strongest man of the party put his head under the 
bark band attached to my chair and lifted me well up 
on his shoulders. Another man was sent just in ad- 
vance to pick the way and find a sure footing. Two 
more men, one on either side, kept close to my chair 
to serve in case of an emergency. It was a novel ex- 
perience, and when shore was gained we felt like 
joining in the shouts that made the forest ring. 

Tungbangla suffered a long, tedious illness, and be- 
came nearly blind, yet never lost sight of her Saviour. 
She ofttimes expressed great joy in anticipation of 
being with him, and frequently referred to the differ- 
ence in her hope and that of a soul going out into the 
dark unknown. Years later, on one of our evangelistic 
tours to a distant village, a young miss, genteel in man- 
ner, with a quiet, pleasant face, clean and tidy, mod- 
estly inquired, "Mem Sahib, do you know me?" 
" Why, no, I have never been here before." Then came 
the reply, " Don't know me ! Why, I am your Tung- 
bangla's daughter." The two little girls left by this 
dear Christian were now grown to young womanhood. 
I advised that they be sent to our Impur school, and 
the eldest, Waeyila, has since been reported among the 
members of Impur church. 

Our Molung village gradually grew to observe the 
Sabbath pretty generally as a day in which to abstain 

1 



i 



88 



A CORNER IN INDIA 



from the regular work of the week. When first ap- 
proached on this subject, the reply was, " Why, father, 
do you mean for us not to reap on Sundays; to sit in 
our village one day in seven when the grain is ripe ? " 

Harvest time came ; there had been a long " spell of 
catching weather," as the home farmers say; then fol- 
lowed a beautiful Sabbath morning, and we greatly 
feared the temptation to gather in the already over- 
ripe grain would be greater than these babes in the 
truth could resist. But to our surprise the attendance 
was larger than usual, and the following morning wit- 
nessed a fresh and early rush to the harvest fields. We 
many times observed this unusually early starting out 
on Monday mornings, and even the people themselves 
said they did more and better work and kept in better 
condition physically, for the rest of the one day in 
seven. 

A printed letter in those early days reads : 

" As I hear the voices in our prayer meetings of 
those who have been born anew, and watch their fea- 
tures soften, as they mirror the new hope, I no longer 
see the savages to whom we first came. 

" An old-time leader in the evil ways of his people, 
valiant in war and taking much delight therein, is now 
one of our most substantial Christians, highly esteemed 
in his own village, and his words weighty in council. 

" The Sunday services are well attended. The people 
are not allowed to smoke or spit inside the place of 
worship. As a Naga is scarcely a Naga without his 



RIPENING GRAIN 89 

pipe, he smokes until he reaches the door, then gives a 
good puff and puts his pipe — in his pocket? No, not 
at all, the pipe is placed in his belt, or laid near-by on 
the mat floor, and not infrequently a little child picks 
it up and takes a whiff. When one is late he may be 
accosted with, ' Did you stop in your house to fill your 
stomach?' When the preacher makes a particularly 
good point, there is frequently a response by a decided 
nod of the head, or in a half-audible tone, 1 That's so,' 
' Yes, that's a truth,' ' Yes, we ought to do thus and 
so.' 

" Often when we come to the closing hymn, and God- 
hula pours out his rich, melodious voice in some in- 
spiring song, the people catch fire (they all sing, the 
men making a very good bass) ; and warming up, draw 
nearer and nearer together, step by step, until all com- 
ing alongside, we truly realize, ' Blest be the tie that 
binds.' " 

The room in our bungalow, becoming too small for 
our Sabbath congregations, we removed the chimney- 
less fire-hearth from the center of the room to one 
corner, thus much enlarging the seating capacity. 

After the harvest our proposition to build a house 
for the Lord was well received. The whole village was 
set to work, the building went rapidly up, and our 
modest little bamboo structure was dedicated free of 
debt, a contribution by the Nagas to the American 
Baptist Missionary Union. The first seats were of 
usual Naga style, blocks of wood, or a long slab for 



90 



A CORNER IN INDIA 



" a family pew." When guests from neighboring vil- 
lages chanced to drop in, the ever-present extra seat 
was supplied by their drawing the axe from its sheath, 
a Naga's seat in any emergency by day, and his pillow 
by night. In the new chapel our congregations in- 
creased very perceptibly. Some people came into this 
more public place of worship who had hesitated to 
enter into the closer quarters. Many loungers too sat 
just outside the door, where they might enjoy their pipe 
and catch bits of the truth. 

It was suggested that, after the reaping, we should 
see what a harvest home festival would bring. Due 
notice was given and a certain Sabbath fixed upon, 
that all who were inclined might bring their gifts. 
Mats, one for the white rice, and one for the red, 
were spread in the open space in front of the pulpit, 
and two generous piles of " paddy " were the result. 
This festival has been established in some of our 
churches as an annual offering. The practice also of 
regular Sunday contributions of small measures of 
rice is now common, and baskets are set near the 
pulpit to receive it. A very pretty sight it is to see 
the people, especially the women, as they enter the 
chapel door, deposit their little gifts. An egg is fre- 
quently found in the contribution box. It was cus- 
tomary with the heathen Ao Nagas to accompany every 
act of worship with a gift. Consequently not very 
much instruction was required to induce the people to 
contribute of their means for religious purposes, and 



RIPENING GRAIN 



91 



to lay aside at daily meals a small gift for the Lord's 
work. 

Ere twelve months had passed we repaired one 
bright Sabbath morning to nature's own baptistery 
beneath the shade of overhanging vines and branches 
— a wild, pretty spot, a most suitable Jordan, from 
which seven of these hitherto bold warriors were 
raised to newness of life. Later, as we gathered to 
" do this in remembrance of Me " there was christened 
the pretty communion service given by the Sunday- 
schools of the two home churches of the first mission- 
aries to this people. 

The young colony grew and prospered. Families 
from other villages gradually came in and we soon 
numbered a hundred houses ; yet with these came also 
demon worship and heathen rites. A noted sorceress 
came and supported herself by her divinations. Chris- 
tianity, however, kept the ascendency. Gradually other 
villages, seeing our prosperity, began asking for teach- 
ers, and the Nagas not being sufficiently advanced, a 
few Assamese Christians were called for evangelistic 
and educational work. Zilli, one of Doctor Bronson's 
former helpers in Assam, with his wife Jointa, joined 
us in the work at Molung, and both proved valuable 
assistants. 

Later, on a Sunday evening, we were very unex- 
pectedly invited to a Sunday-school concert, managed 
entirely by preacher Zilli. The bamboo chapel was 
well lighted with lamps and lanterns; the congregation 



92 



A CORNER IN INDIA 



assembled, and the day-school and Sunday-school chil- 
dren came marching in singing in broken English — 
but it sounded sweetly — " We're marching to Zion, 
beautiful Zion." There were recitations in English and 
Naga, interspersed with singing in both languages. 
Several young men took part, acquitting themselves 
with credit. The singing of " Bringing in the sheaves " 
was a suggestive climax to this day of beginnings. 



XVI 



PROGRESS AND P^RII, 



S time went on different villages began inviting 



J~\^ us, some even volunteering to come and bring 
us. Our cold season tourings were thus much in- 
creased. With our evangelistic helpers, servants, and 
carriers, bearing chairs, bedding, pots and pans, dishes, 
lanterns, kerosene oil, and food in numerous bundles, 
all marching in single file over the steeps and through 
the gullies, we presented a long and picturesque pro- 
cession. Frequently village chiefs on important busi- 
ness would accompany us, dressed in their finest cloths 
and war finery, thus adding, with their necessary 
attendants, considerable dignity to our party. 

Arriving at our destination, a cup of tea would soon 
refresh us, and in a short time we were set up in house- 
keeping and ready for the reception which always 
awaited us; then followed preaching, visiting the 
women in their homes, ministering to the sick, and 
striving in every way to reach the people. 

The eagerness of the villages to receive us was such 
that soon we had only to send a messenger a day or 
two in advance in order to find a new, fresh, little 
bamboo house, furnished with bedstead and table, 
awaiting us, with a pleasant little porch over our front 




93 



94 



A CORNER IN INDIA 



door and a cookhouse just outside. Did we chance to 
reach a village too late for a new house to be made 
ready by evening, the public hall with fresh mats for 
walls and flooring was at our service, or the dwelling 
of one of the first families would be vacated for us. 

Good congregations were always obtainable in al- 
most no time in the cold season, the people living 
mostly in the street, doing their work in the sunshine. 
To many, the old, old story sounded strange and sweet 
when heard for the first time. A pause by the preacher 
was taken as an opportunity for all sorts of questions, 
either pertaining to or widely diverse from the subject. 
As I went among the women, one would ask : 

" Is your mother living? " 

" Yes." 

" She must be awfully old." 
" Have you any children ? " 

Then as the story was related of the one angel child 
above, there would come from a sympathetic, sorrow- 
ing mother: 

"Beautiful, beautiful words, how sweet to hear! I 
wish I knew how to believe them. Did you come all the 
way to tell us this? " 

As we continued to speak of the home above and of 
salvation through Jesus alone, another would say : 

" Do hear her sweet words ! " 

Another calls out, " How is your cloth woven?" 

" Do they wear such cloth in heaven? " 

" How smooth your hair is ; do you have lice in it? " 



PROGRESS AND PERIL 



95 



Answering this last, several voices exclaimed : " Do 
tell ! What medicine do you use?" 

On leaving a certain village, just after passing 
through the gateway of the stockade, we came to a 
strange little bamboo hut with bones of various animals 
and broken cooking pots strewed around. 

" What is this? " we inquired. 

" Oh ! that is Leezaba's (the evil deity's) cookhouse." 

The sacrifices made for him in the village for sick- 
ness and misfortune did not seem to avail, and this 
house had been built solely for him. Portions of ani- 
mals slain for feasts were placed here for Leezaba, 
that he might cook for himself, and thus perhaps be 
satisfied. 

At Wamaken village, we were very proud as we 
listened to our Christian Edeeba's address. He began 
away back with the story of the creation, and step by 
step came down to the great sacrifice for sin; indeed 
quite an oration. The people listened. " Tell us more," 
they said. " Our minds are all dark ; we have no torch 
to guide us." One woman exclaimed, " Oh, yes, that is 
just what Assamese Godhula has been telling us, and 
we want to throw away this Leezaba worship and serve 
the true God." 

Unger, a strongly fortified, plucky little village, right 
on a rough, rocky summit, was entered by crossing on 
a single tree trunk over a broad ditch stuck thickly 
with sharp bamboo spikes. 

The farther we traveled the larger the villages and 



9 6 



A CORNER IN INDIA 



more fertile the land. Yet the people, leaving the beau- 
tiful plateaus on mountain crests, chose for their homes 
the rocky, rugged peaks as more easily defended. 

On one of our tours I was taken quite ill and, unable 
to be carried in a chair ; the Nagas, ever fertile in ways 
and means, improvised a dhuli in which I could lie 
down and be borne by four. The Nagas, however, 
being unaccustomed to this sort of partnership, it 
proved a genuine " Humpty-dumpty " experience ; the 
conveyance frequently catching on a stump or scra- 
ping against a projecting rock. The weather grew 
threatening, and we were two days' march from 
Molung, but, by pressing on with relays of men, we 
arrived at the end of our journey about midnight. A 
severe attack of the grippe was upon us both and no 
physician near. 

Again, Mr. Clark and Godhula on tour chanced to 
stop in a large village through which an English sur- 
vey party had previously passed. Soon after smallpox 
in a severe form broke out; the party was charged 
with bringing the scourge, and in consequence the vil- 
lage bound itself with an oath that a European head 
should pay the penalty. Unfortunately for Mr. Clark, 
these oath-bound warriors knew no difference between 
an English official and the humble messenger of the 
cross. Mr. Clark and Godhula soon became cogni- 
zant of the situation; it was indeed hazardous; what 
was to be done? While praying for guidance and pro- 
tection, the answer came in the very unexpected arrival 



PROGRESS AND PERIL 



97 



of a large body of strong, stalwart young men friendly 
to our Molung village. The safety of the mission party 
assured, a quiet, peaceful night was passed and the 
gospel preached to the people. 

On another occasion Mr. Clark, while touring, no- 
ticed that his Naga attendant was considerably excited 
and careful to keep well in front of him on the path. 
Stopping for the night, the attendance at their meeting 
in the village was small and the inattention and rest- 
lessness of the people created suspicions which were 
well-grounded. When the meeting broke up and the 
missionary was about to retire several men came in 
and, after talking in low tones with one another and 
addressing a few unintelligible questions to my hus- 
band, went out ; others came conducting themselves in 
a similar manner. Some plot evidently was under con- 
sideration. Finally, as if the project had been aban- 
doned, all was quiet. The following morning it was 
learned that the kidnapping of Mr. Clark and his 
helper had been seriously contemplated. 

But there was other than strictly religious progress 
in our parish. With our sparse house furnishings, any- 
thing in the way of additions and conveniences was 
very much appreciated. There were no closets, bu- J 
reaus, or shelves even. Everything was in trunks and 
boxes standing on the floor, and it was bend and stoop 
and kneel whenever anything was wanted, while a 
great pile of packing cases, in which came our Calcutta 
stores, was fast accumulating at the back of the house. 



98 A CORNER IN INDIA 

It was suggested that these boxes be brought in, piled 
and matched as well as possible. The suggestion was 
accepted, but, as usual, very much improved upon by 
Mr. Clark. He said the Nagas could knock the boxes 
to pieces, and he, at odd times, could match the boards 
and make one huge closet, if it would be acceptable 
without planing. Oh, certainly, by all means. Hence 
in due time there arose in our bedroom a wardrobe 
with shelves, and never in all my life was I so proud of 
a piece of furniture. It was so interesting too, as I 
awoke in the morning and my eyes resting on this 
cabinet, I read, " From Planter's Stores, Dibrugarh " ; 
" Sykes & Co., Calcutta " ; " Care J. Buckingham, Am- 
guri Tea Estate " ; " Great Eastern General Stores " ; 
" Standard Oil, U. S. A." Ah, on these last letters my 
eyes were wont to linger while I delighted in pleasant 
reminiscences. 

Then the old bedstead built with the house seemed to 
be growing harder, and we called in the Nagas and had 
a new one made, of thinner, more flexible, springy 
bamboo splints. 



XVII 



TROUBI,£ ON OUR PATH 

I HAD been spending a little time at Sibsagor when 
my husband came to accompany me back to the 
hills. The elephant was at the door, we had said our 
good-byes, when two Nagas hurriedly and excitedly 
appeared, bringing the intelligence that two men had 
been speared on the path between our village and 
Dekha Haimong, causing serious alarm to our people. 
Other messengers also soon followed bringing a note 
from Colonel Buckingham, advising Mr. Clark's imme- 
diate return, leaving me at Sibsagor, as there was grave 
trouble and much excitement among the Nagas. 

Mr. Clark hastened at once to the hills. He found 
matters even worse than had been represented. Be- 
sides the spearing of the two men reported, two Molung 
men had been killed and there was much ambushing by 
the enemy along our route, evidently designed to cut 
-off our communication with Assam, which in this hos- 
tile country would never do. This path belonged espe- 
cially to Molung village, and according to Naga usage, 
other villagers had no right to travel thereon without 
permission. This precaution was necessary, as this 
was our only direct communication with the plain. 
After learning the facts and finding out the guilty 



IOO 



A CORNER IN INDIA 



party, Mr. Clark, with two of our faithful and most 
influential men of the village, returned to Sibsagor. 
The matter was brought to the attention of the chief 
commissioner of Assam, asking the protection of the 
British government to Europeans on its frontier, and 
to interfere on our behalf in this recent serious trouble. 
The chief commissioner very kindly authorized Dep- 
uty Commissioner Colonel Campbell, who had charge 
of the Sibsagor district extending to the base of the 
hills, to investigate and settle this affair. 

Messengers were despatched by Colonel Campbell 
to Temlu, the offending village, demanding its head 
men to appear before her majesty's court at Sibsagor. 
They came, confessed to the act, and were fined one 
hundred and fifty rupees, about fifty dollars, to be paid 
in seventeen days, two of the head men being detained 
in Sibsagor jail as hostages until the whole amount 
should be brought in. The Temlu men declared that 
the village could not meet such a demand. In this 
threatening phase of matters I was not allowed to re- 
turn to the hills, and Mr. Clark went back at his own 
risk. 

Twelve days later Temlu Nagas appeared in Sibsa- 
gor with forty rupees, asserting with great positive- 
ness that no more money could be raised though they 
be punished to the utter destruction of their village. 
This is a common ruse among Orientals. But Colonel 
Campbell was unrelenting in his decision, and the Tem- 
lu men, finding it was useless to hold out longer, came 



TROUBLE ON OUR PATH 



IOI 



within the prescribed time, bringing the full measure 
of their penalty. Colonel Campbell required two of 
the head men to sign an agreement by their own mark, 
to the effect that no further depredations should 
be committed on the Molung paths, and that the 
missionaries should not be molested. 

With a light heart I was soon off to meet my hus- 
band at Amguri, and proceeded with him to our home 
among these warriors. In honor of my return, also 
to show appreciation of Mr. Clark's services in the 
recent unpleasant affair, the chief men of Molung 
dressed in their finest were down with Mr. Clark to 
meet me. As I remarked, " With such trouble on our 
path, how can I go up?" they replied, "Why, Mem 
Sahib, the whole ' kingdom ' is down to take care of 
you." And sure enough here was the entire village 
force ready to do us free service. 

We started off with our long procession, body-guard 
in front of us, body-guard in rear of us, body-guard 
alongside of us. It was the beginning of the rainy sea- 
son and leeches were plentiful ; although in a chair on 
a man's back far above the reach of these troublesome 
pests, yet one man was detailed especially to protect 
me. It was amusing to see the people with a jerk and 
a fling throw off these blood suckers. One man carried 
tobacco juice in a small bamboo — this is quite cus- 
tomary when traveling in the rains — and occasionally 
passed through the procession swabbing down their 
bare legs and feet, thus causing the leeches to curl up 



102 



A CORNER IN INDIA 



and drop. Frequently Europeans traveling in these re- 
gions are quite disabled by the bites of these little crea- 
tures. Safe on the mountain crest again, a most hearty 
welcome from all awaited us, and we hoped to resume 
our work unmolested. 



XVIII 

GLIMPSES Otf DAWN 

IN November, 1880, we were glad to welcome to our 
rude home Rev. C. D. King, of the Assam mission. 
We will let him speak for himself. 

" Oh, you ought to have seen it all ! Your hearts 
too would have thrilled. You should first have lived for 
a few months among the Nagas in some portion of their 
own great stretch of wild, grand, forest-begirt hills, 
to appreciate what I have seen during a two weeks' 
visit here in Mr. Clark's vast parish. There is much 
that suggests a comparison with our own North Ameri- 
can Indians, as they were in the days of their prowess. 
Human skulls here are as honorable trophies as ever 
were scalps to the American savage. Villages that can 
display but few skulls are held in contempt. Among 
such people as this, it is a matter of no small encour- 
agement to see even one Christian church and one 
nominally Christian village, keeping the Sabbath and 
holding itself aloof from all the petty wars that rage 
about it ; a village which, without skulls or other war- 
like distinctions, compels the respect of others because 
it is Christian. Such is this village of Molung. It is 
I literally a city set on a hill, and we are having just now 

i ample proof that it cannot be hid. 

103 

I 



104 A CORNER IN INDIA 

" I wish I could describe the first religious meeting I 
attended here, and those of the Sabbath Day which fol- 
lowed. Can you realize how hearing representatives 
of all the thousands on these wild hills humbly praying 
to Yehovah Yeesu Kreesta, and feeling sure of the sym- 
pathy of his brethren, would quicken the ardor of your 
own soul? And now listen to their singing. These 
deep, guttural, bass voices, and these strange-sounding 
words never before written, till brought together in 
these hymns, what a new charm they give to the fa- 
miliar tunes, ' Lead me, O thou great Jehovah,' * How 
Firm a Foundation/ 4 My Faith Looks up to Thee.' 

" Sunday evening, and the one little Sunday-school 
of all Naga land convenes — Mrs. Clark and her school- 
girls. They come, tripping along with a free, wide- 
awake air; many of them with black, home-made to- 
bacco pipes in their mouths, which they remove at once 
on entering the chapel. The numerous small brass 
bells strung around the necks of the fidgety little ones 
keep up a constant jingle. 

" Here are girls just blooming into young woman- 
hood ; girls that in the valley would ere their age have 
been married. There is one whose face you will never 
forget, Tungbangla, to whom reference has already 
been made. Her voice was the first among Naga 
women to say, 4 Let me be with you on the Lord's 
side/ She and one other, a young married woman, also 
a member of Mrs. Clark's school, were baptized last 
August. Oh, how quickly all the sacrifices of these past 



GLIMPSES OF DAWN 105 

years faded into nothingness! And how glorious 
seemed the reward when these two young women were 
known to be heirs of the life everlasting. 

" This evening a woman, who has of late been a 
very attentive listener at the meetings, makes her first 
confession of having ' thrown away every vestige of 
the old religion/ and tells how she prays every night 
to the true God, and finds great joy in trusting in 
Yeesu Kreesta. Her husband responds audibly, 
' Amen,' and tells her she is doing right. 

" Would I could make you see Tungbangla's face, 
as, seated on a low block, quite near her new-found 
fellow-pilgrim, she watches and listens with dilated 
eyes and parted lips, and many a little gesture of deep 
satisfaction and intense interest. I would also have 
you note the commanding and interesting face of Im- 
rong, who can hardly be restrained from putting words 
into the woman's mouth, to tell her how she feels, 
while manifesting his own satisfaction in audible ex- 
clamations. All followed with interest the brief Sun- 
day-school lesson, and Imrong, being asked about the 
state of things at Merangkong, his pent-up enthusiasm 
burst forth. ' At Merangkong on Sundays, hundreds 
of the people, men, women, and children, come together 
to hear what I can tell them about the Christian re- 
ligion/ Godhula, rejoicing, takes it up, ' Mem Sahib, 
Christianity will eat them up/ And the Mem Sahib 
herself is by no means insensible to the thrilling influ- 
ences of the occasion. How often she has said, ' Oh, 



io6 



A CORNER IN INDIA 



if these people would only manifest a little more en- 
thusiasm ! ' But it is their nature to be slow and phleg- 
matic. Imrong's fire seems a miracle. How wonder- 
fully the prayer for laborers has been answered ! Our 
hearts burned within us as later we talked and prayed 
over these mighty transformations, and particularly of 
one man who, when asked why he wished to be bap- 
tized, answered, ' 1 want to be washed from all my old 
religion, father, and have your God for my God, and 
obey him in all things.' " 

At heart Imrong may not have been more devoted 
to the cause of Christ, or in his life more faithful or 
true than some of the other Christian Nagas; but he 
had the fervor, the zeal, the enthusiasm many seemed 
to lack and which we so longed to see in this people. 
I thought him about the homeliest man in all the vil- 
lage, very tall, muscular, square-shouldered, angular, 
loose-jointed, and such hands and feet ! His deep, 
heavy, sonorous voice made the forests ring ; and when- 
ever he was deputed to herald a public notice through 
the village, no one having ears could fail to hear. 
Whenever in our journeyings he was my bearer I felt 
I had a tower of strength beneath me. I could truly 
say, " I loved him like a brother." Imrong finally re- 
moved to Merangkong, but never resumed the old 
demon worship or took any part in the village feasts 
or sacrifices. Mr. Clark once asked him, " Imrong, do 
you make offerings to Leezaba nowadays when your 
wife or children are ill?" With those two great 



GLIMPSES OF DAWN 



hands uplifted, and with an expression of horror, he 
exclaimed, " Never, father, never, no never ! " 

Sitting by my window one day I heard the peculiar 
sound of axes rattling in their sheaths on the Nagas' 
backs, and the patter, patter of many bare feet. Sure 
enough visitors were coming, and such a procession! 
I had counted into the nineties when our brother Im- 
rong stepped up to the door with his usual ardor and 
enthusiasm, while back of him stood two hundred and 
fifty men from Merangkong who had stopped, at his 
suggestion, to express anew their regard and affection 
for " father " and the " Mem Sahib." 

Going down the hillside one morning we were sur- 
prised to see that a huge boulder, long thought to be 
the abode of demons, was broken. Formerly no one 
would go near it ; but the boys taught in our day and 
Sunday schools gradually began to climb over it and 
sharpen their hatchets on it, and now, doubtless, some 
of these young dissenters had struck the fatal blow — 
a blow too, full of meaning. 

Oh, how we rejoiced when Sentimong, after relaps- 
ing to heathen rites through the persuasions of his 
pagan wife, broke completely down in our prayer meet- 
ing one evening, pleading, " I am so sorry ; the Sa- 
viour's face has been turned away from me ; the Chris- 
tian teacher has had no smiles for me; all has been 
dark ; O Jesus, forgive me." 

With like joy we thanked God for another victory 
when Mangkorepba and his wife made not the costly 



io8 



A CORNER IN INDIA 



offerings we feared they would in time of sickness, and, 
grateful for their recovery, gave glory to God in al- 
tered lives, and asked that they might witness to the 
same, with others, in baptism. 
My journal of those old-time days reads : 
" You can hardly realize how civilized, compara- 
tively, our Nagas are becoming. Around-the-world 
tourists chancing to give us a call would wonder what 
our parishioners once were. They do not exactly come 
in and ask for the latest telegrams from England and 
America when our mail-bag arrives ; but they are anx- 
ious to know all we may choose to tell them of its con- 
tents. You should hear their exclamations of wonder 
as they turn the pages of " Harper's Weekly " ! They are 
in a new world of which they never dreamed. When 
our new missionary map from Boston was hung up 
before them, " Wah ! wah ! wah ! father, what does it 
speak?" uttered in reverent exclamations gave oppor- 
tunity for such a lesson as led old Deacon Scubungal- 
lumba to drop his head and mutter almost under 
his breath, " Ish, Ish ! how great we have thought 
ourselves, as though we were the big part of all 
creation." 

Later literary and school work going on apace, Mr. 
Clark requested that a hand printing-press be sent out 
from Boston. A much larger one than was expected 
came very near proving a black elephant on our hands. 
The Nagas, now eager for every new evidence of their 
progress civilization-ward, voluntarily contributed two 



GLIMPSES OF DAWN 



109 



whole days to the tremendous task of bringing it to 
our hilltop. In 1885 the Gospels of Matthew and John 
were ready to put into the hands of those who could 
read. A new and enlarged collection of hymns, the 
history of Joseph, and more school books were added. 
We never can tell our joy when the young men and 
women in our congregation began intelligently to handle 
the Scriptures and hymn books! What did it mat- 
ter if sometimes the books were held upside down by 
the older ones who did not wish to be outdone; their 
honest pride spoke volumes. Of what account were 
any sacrifices for this people now glad to have us with 
them and eager for the printed page ! 



! 



XIX 

TO MSRANGKONG AND TEMI^U 

THE Molung people, jealous of our growing inter- 
est in the large and prosperous village of Merang- 
kong, argued, " Those people have as many wars as 
there are hairs on a Naga's head. The path thither is 
extremely difficult and unsafe. Why talk of going over 
there?" 

However, we decided to make the venture and a 
large number of our Molung folks offered to go with 
us. Again and again we were obliged to tunnel our 
way through long reaches of vines, intertwining creep- 
ers and overarching branches — a veritable subway. 
Approaching the village, such a climb! Passing the 
sentinels on the watch-tower at the gateway, a charac- 
teristic welcome helped to dispel the weariness of the 
journey. Chickens began to squawk; rice, chillies, 
yams, and sugar-cane galore were spread before us; 
and in the house placed at our disposal we were quick- 
ly " at home," but we asked to be excused from the 
four men proffered to occupy the room with us at 
night for protection, preferring the risk to Naga 
snoring. 

Some time previous to this visit there had been found 

at the gateway of Dekha Haimong, the mother village 
no 



i 



TO MERANGKONG AND TEMLU 



III 



of Molung, a broken pongee (a sharpened, dangerous, 
usually poisoned bamboo splint) and a quenched torch, 
—an unmistakable declaration of war, placed there by 
the Temlu people. This apparently failing to arouse 
the Ao people, a little later there was perpetrated the 
dastardly ambush attack on the Molung path referred 
to in a previous chapter, thus showing clearly the pur- 
pose of Temlu to open war on Molung. Ostensibly 
repenting this act, Temlu head men had for some time 
been sending for Mr. Clark to visit them. The request 
becoming more and more urgent, Mr. Clark, after con- 
ferring with Molung and Merangkong people, decided 
to go, and accompanied by Godhula, with fifteen or 
twenty Merangkong men as body-guard, proceeded on 
this uncertain mission. 

The path was a dangerous war route. Some of the 
party armed with spears and shields marched before 
Mr. Clark, while others followed close after. Scarcely 
four miles were covered before a halt was called. 
" Father, there is ambushing all along this path ; if we 
keep our heads on we shall do well. What do you 
say? Is it forward or back?" A moment later one 
exclaims, "We can't stop long to talk here; it must 
be one way or the other at once ! " Forward, was the 
word, but cautiously in solid phalanx. Passing a sharp 
turn in the path, spears came suddenly flying pell-mell 
between the men and even between the legs of one 
man. At Mr. Clark's order the one gun in the party 
was fired into the jungle with the effect of quickly 



112 



A CORNER IN INDIA 



dispersing the supposed enemy. Baskets, cloths, and 
other articles strewed the path, their owners nowhere 
to be seen. Then followed shouts and calls, and lo, 
from their hiding-place in the jungle the Temlu men 
stood before them! Surprised and frightened by the 
sudden appearance of this formidable procession, they 
had thrown their spears in self-defense. Soon all was 
satisfactorily explained and the parties marched on 
together. 

At the base of Temlu Hill it was suggested that a 
delegation be sent in advance to inform the village and 
bring word whether or not they would be received. 
In answer the head village official, with his attend- 
ants, came running down as fast as the dignity of his 
office would permit, his face wreathed in smiles; in- 
deed this was all he might be said to wear. Every tree- 
top and shrub was filled with men and boys as Mr. 
Clark and his attendants were escorted with great 
deference and honor past sentinels at the gateway and 
up through the village street, and there was nothing 
lacking in the lavish entertainment of the entire party. 

The past rehearsed, the Temlu men confessed to 
ambuscading the Molung path, but insisted that the 
deed was instigated by a treacherous neighboring vil- 
lage for which they were only the " catspaw." Much 
regret was expressed for the act, and a desire shown to 
be friends with the " Sahib " and the " Molungnungers." 

Already the shadows were lengthening, when sud- 
denly there appeared in their midst enemies of the 



TO MERANGKONG AND TEMLU 



113 



Merangkong people. " What was to be done now?" 
Although these new-comers were few in number, they 
might hasten back to their own near-by village and 
rally for an attack on Mr. Clark's party while return- 
ing to Merangkong. Special effort was made, there- 
fore, to retain these men while the Merangkong party 
should quickly disappear in the darkness. It was not 
safe to carry torches, so the travelers proceeded, feel- 
ing their way as best they could. It was a terrible ex- 
perience; but a happy, praiseful company marched 
into Merangkong village after midnight. 

During Mr. Clark's absence fifteen armed men 
guarded the little bamboo quarters of the missionary's 
wife, and escorted her in walks through the village. 
Two of our schoolgirls were with me, and we visited 
many of these dark, dark homes. 

We were now in the heart of the Ao tribe, among the 
big war villages, three days removed from any white 
face ; large parties of travelers numbering several hun- 
dred were constantly coming and going, and in addi- 
tion to preaching the gospel there was much diplo- 
matic work. Supposed abodes of the spirits were 
numerous and skulls everywhere, a dozen or more 
adorning many a doorway. 

In one of our walks through the village we came to 
a large, comfortable looking house with the entire 
front wall removed, and across this space, hung on 
bamboo poles, were men's and women's clothes, jew- 
elry, skeins of yarn, unfinished cloth from the loom, 

H 



114 



A CORNER IN INDIA 



cooking utensils, implements of husbandry, everything 
worn and used by a well-to-do family. We were told 
that a young man of the household had been carried 
off by a tiger, hence the old story of sin and an aban- 
doned home, as told in a former chapter. Although 
desirous of obtaining these fine ornaments for curios, 
we hesitated, as to do so would cause us to become 
sinful in the eyes of the people. We consulted the 
officials. " Why, yes," they said, " take them if you 
dare," but we did not remove them until the time for 
our departure. When we were ready to return to Mo- 
lung no one came to take our loads. We called and 
waited, grew impatient, sent again and again for our 
bearers. Finally we were told that with the accursed 
articles in the luggage no one would carry it. On 
Mr. Clark's showing them the jewelry in our little 
handbag one of our Christians immediately took it, the 
best possible proof of his sincerity in abandoning 
old-time customs. 

A large escort from Merangkong accompanied us to 
the river. Going down the deep descent from the vil- 
lage gate the chief kept close to my bearer, pointing 
out the steps, and in the most difficult places stood 
with outstretched arms in case of an accident. What 
a relief that no such casualty occurred ! 

Later, several were baptized at Merangkong and a 
little church organized. The few gathered in from this 
hard field speaks volumes to one who has lived to see 
it. A young Naga evangelist and his wife from the 



TO MERANGKONG AND TEMLU 1 1 5 

Impur Training School are now there as religious and 
day-school teachers, and others are being gathered in. 

On his return from a furlough in America, Mr. Clark 
writes : " The last annual meeting of the Ao Naga As- 
sociation — 1904 — was held at Merangkong. As the place 
was not so central and measles were prevailing in many 
villages, the attendance was not so large as usual 
(there are generally from two hundred to three hun- 
dred persons present). The church is weak, yet hospi- 
tality was unstinted. The Association touched high- 
water mark as to spiritual power and devotion. The 
main sermon was preached by your former schoolboy, 
Samar, and showed considerable thought, was elevated 
in tone and delivered with much oratorical power." 



XX 



OPPORTUNITIES BLOOD-BOUGHT 

ROM Ao land, crossing the Lhota tribe, a distance 



Ji of one hundred miles or more, are the powerful, 
roaming Angamis. In the days of the old Assam 
kings these Angamis .were much given to looting As- 
samese villages, carrying off cattle, goats, and dogs, 
and not infrequently a much prized human head. For 
this reason the English government was compelled to 
station a resident political agent on one of the lower 
Angami hills in the village of Samaguting, near the 
main route to the plain. English officers with native 
troops also went farther into the hills and established 
headquarters at Kohima, one of the largest villages 
and centrally located. This military encroachment 
aroused the war villages in the interior, and an attack 
on the English was begun at Samaguting. Kohima 
was also besieged by thousands of hostile Nagas and 
was only relieved by an increased English force. 

There was a general uprising throughout the entire 
Angami tribe with the purpose of killing or driving out 
every one connected with British rule. One English 
officer and several sepoys were killed. Without pen, 
ink, paper, telegraph or telephone, the news of these 
events spread like wildfire from mountain peak to 




OPPORTUNITIES BLOOD-BOUGHT 



117 



mountain peak, from tribe to tribe. The air was full of 
rumors and the people were at high tension. The 
alarm reaching the plains, Colonel Campbell, English 
magistrate of Sibsagor District, and Colonel Bucking- 
ham, of Amguri, each sent special messengers urging 
us to flee at once. But we were accustomed to war 
rumors and decided to stand by our own people and 
quietly await events. 

The issue of this war was the entire subjugation of 
the Angami tribe, the annexation of their country, and 
permanent occupation of Kohima by a strong military 
force. This occurred in March, 1880, and about this 
time the Lhota tribe, lying between the Angamis and 
the Aos, was taken in, thus bringing English rule to 
our Ao border. 

Mr. Clark, long anticipating this splendid opening, 
had importuned the Missionary Union to send a man 
to the Angami Nagas, with Kohima, at an elevation 
of four thousand five hundred feet, as missionary 
headquarters. 

Rev. C. D. King was appointed, but not being per- 
mitted to proceed at once to Kohima, stopped at the 
lower village, Samaguting. Here Mrs. King soon 
joined him, and just in time to experience the terrors 
of an attack which compelled them to take refuge 
within the English stockade ; and even from this shelter 
they were soon compelled to flee for their lives; but 
immediately the conflict was ended and the British flag 
unfurled over Kohima they hastened there. 



Ii8 



A CORNER IN INDIA 



Up to 1885 fifty-one Nagas and three Assamese had 
been baptized in our Ao Naga field. The Gospels of 
Matthew and John, the story of Joseph, a catechism, 
a collection of gospel hymns, and elementary school 
books had been published in the Ao tongue, and 
schools with Assamese teachers, who also served as 
evangelists, had been opened in several villages. 

In January of that year Rev. and Mrs. S. W. Riven- 
burg arrived at Molung, and in May following Mr. 
Clark took his first home furlough after sixteen years 
in Assam. Six weeks later Mr. Rivenburg wrote of 
their not expecting to see a white face for the next six 
months, and of receiving mail only once in two weeks, 
but they were happy, and during their stay at Molung 
twenty-four persons were baptized and the kingdom 
advanced in many ways. 

On our return to Assam in 1886, the missionaries 
were assembled for a jubilee conference in celebration 
of a half-century of mission work in Assam. In view 
of the early departure of the Kings for America, it was 
decided that the Rivenburgs should succeed them at 
Kohima, thus leaving us alone again among the Aos. 

We found the work in a prosperous condition, with 
many pleasant surprises awaiting us. Mr. Rivenburg 
had availed himself of the doors and windows of an 
old abandoned mission bungalow in the plains, and 
utilized them in place of the sagging, scraping mats 
that had so annoyed us. Safely back in this comfort- 
able home, renewed in strength and encouraged by the 



OPPORTUNITIES BLOOD-BOUGHT 1 19 

sympathy and appreciation of the home churches, we 
joyfully resumed our life of isolation. 

Dr. and Mrs. Rivenburg have remained at Kohima, 
toiling faithfully amid many difficulties, reducing the 
language to writing and doing much evangelistic, liter- 
ary, and medical work. For the last Doctor Rivenburg 
qualified himself by a medical course during their first 
furlough in America. 

The work of the Rivenburgs has appealed to the 
government, which has given them an excellent build- 
ing site; a twenty years' lease of another piece of land 
on which stand two buildings, admirably adapted for 
school purposes; a monthly grant-in-aid of fifty-five 
rupees to help maintain the school; and generous 
grants for printing of Scripture translations, school 
books, and medical works prepared by Doctor Riven- 
burg. The missionaries at Kohima are now housed in 
a new and comfortable bungalow, and are rejoicing in 
fresh additions to their little band of Christians and the 
prosperity of their growing school, now numbering 
upwards of a hundred pupils. 



XXI 



From the battle-axe to the British flag 

IN 1885 the English government assumed suzerainty 
over the Ao Naga tribe. A strong military force 
marched the length and breadth of Ao territory, de- 
manding of all the villages cessation from war. This 
edict was scarcely credited by the people. " This is 
only a big raid to get rilled up," they said; and, still 
set on honors won by spilling human blood, continued 
their petty warfares, ambuscades, and plundering raids, 
involving costly English expeditions, with constant 
excitement, agitation, and unrest throughout the land. 

Not readily comprehending their true relations to 
this new order, nor knowing just how much authority 
was left them for settling village crimes and inter- 
village broils, they asked : " Who is this Rani (queen) 
that she should reign over us? " " Are not some of us 
of royal blood? " " Have not we kings? " Again and 
again there came ambassadors from different villages 
to counsel with Mr. Clark; some, cognizant of their 
own misdeeds, would plead for his intercession on their 
behalf, and all begged for a written testimony of their 
peaceable conduct and good-will. It was amusing to 
see what confidence they suddenly had in a written 
statement, though none of them could read. 
120 



FROM THE BATTLE-AXE TO THE BRITISH FLAG 121 

Just at dusk one evening there appeared before our 
door twenty warriors from Kansang village, which a 
few months previous had plotted to cut up an English 
officer and a small force of ten sepoys stopping there 
for the night. Rumors having reached us of this con- 
spiracy, our Assamese helper, Zilli, was speedily des- 
patched to apprise the party that there was danger. 
The officer, not pleased with his reception by this vil- 
lage, and finding that it was by one certain path and 
no other that the village proposed to escort him on his 
journey, decided that was not the route for him, and 
hastened on his way to safer British territory. This 
proved a wise act. Kansang, not having the courage 
to commit the dastardly deed, had enlisted men from 
villages across the Ao border to ambush this path. In 
anticipation of being called upon to answer for this, 
these Kansang ambassadors had come for the 
intercession of the missionary. 

About midnight there came a heavy rap-tap at our 
door. Waramong men in great distress were there; 
their village had been fined for delinquency in furnish- 
ing load-carriers to a government expedition, and as 
they had just helped a neighboring village out of simi- 
lar trouble, they were without money wherewith to 
meet the like demand upon themselves. Although Mr. 
Clark was absent, the needful rupees were given, in 
full confidence of repayment. 

One village visited by this military expedition had 
been fined one hundred dollars for decoying into it 



122 



A CORNER IN INDIA 



four men and beheading them, and the surrender of 
the murderers required. Four poor, sickly, miserable 
men were brought before the English magistrate, con- 
fessed the crime, and were received as the supposed 
culprits, yet not without suspicion. Under pretense of 
moving camp, orders were given to assemble the entire 
village. When all were gathered in the presence of 
the military, the village was surrounded by a squad of 
sepoys, and under penalty of the complete destruction 
of the village and all their possessions three of the real 
murderers were produced. These were found to belong 
to the most prominent families of the village, hence 
the ruse of substitutes, which had been bought. The 
fourth of the guilty party having escaped, his house 
was destroyed and its rebuilding forbidden. The three 
guilty men were tried before the Sibsagor civil magis- 
trate and sentenced for life to the Andaman Islands, 
an English convict settlement. Some villages, from 
fear of the new rule, came bringing in their slaves, pro- 
posing to place them in the missionary's care. From 
our hilltop during these military expeditions we often 
watched the flames of villages leaping upwards like 
tongues of fire. 

The officers in command of these armed touring 
parties were ever glad to avail themselves of Mr. 
Clark's experience from long residence here, and time 
and again was he requested to meet the military at 
different points and travel with them. Striking was 
the contrast of the missionary, formerly attended only 



FROM THE BATTLE-AXE TO THE BRITISH FLAG 123 

by his little staff of volunteers to the King of kings, 
now setting out with Her Majesty's armed corps. We 
gladly embraced such opportunities, and often sent 
supplies from our larder and vegetables and flowers 
from our garden to cheer the English officials march- 
ing through lands so barren. One day a telegram 
came— the wires, two men— the despatch respectfully, 
perhaps superstitiously, inserted in the slit end of a 
stick about three feet long. It proved to be an official 
order for load-carriers from Molung to meet an expe- 
dition and bring them on their way hither, where they 
would temporarily halt with us. The " fatted calf " 
was soon awaiting the hungry guests, whose coming 
meant so much in preparing the highway for the 
gospel. 

In June, 1888, only three years after peace had been 
proclaimed in Ao land, a big tribe across the border, 
finding its tillable lands insufficient for its needs, began 
attacks on our frontier villages. In these attacks the 
large village, Mungsemdi, suffered most, losing by one 
invasion over one hundred and fifty men. Another 
village, Lungdang, lost fifty, and but for the presence 
of the English government, doubtless the conquest of 
the upper portion of the Ao tribe would have been 
achieved. 

The news of this terrible raid upon two of the largest 
villages on the border of our tribe spread like wildfire 
from village to village throughout the entire land, and 
there was even greater excitement and commotion than 



124 



A CORNER IN INDIA 



we had experienced when foreign control was first 
announced. Some of our Molung village officials, 
returning from a ten days' tour through that part of 
the tribe, confirmed the report and told us of the 
great suffering through homes destroyed and granaries 
burned. 

The border village, Suzu, was attacked, six men 
killed, and one carried away alive; the last considered 
a great achievement. Later, ambassadors from another 
frontier village came to us in great distress, having 
received a message from these same marauders to the 
effect that in six days they would pay them a visit. 
We could but pity these poor people, although we 
knew that it was but a short time since they too were 
on the war-path, glorying in the acquisition of fresh 
heads. They desired to be represented as friendly to the 
missionary and favorable to the English government. 

English headquarters in Assam was notified of this 
disturbance, and one hundred and twenty sepoys from 
Sibsagor arrived in our village, and tarried with us for 
a night en route as a guard for the menaced border. 
This created quite an excitement, seemingly bringing 
the war to our very door. The sepoys were camped 
just below our bungalow, and their chit-chat in Assam- 
ese was really music to our ears, and cheered and 
enlivened our hearts, notwithstanding their serious 
errand. 

In December, 1888, Lieutenant Maxwell, from Di- 
brugarh, Assam, with seventy frontier police, arrived 



FROM THE BATTLE-AXE TO THE BRITISH FLAG 125 

at Molung, en route to the very heart of the enemy's 
country. We welcomed them heartily and sent them 
on their way with additional comforts. 

From beyond the border, Mr. Davis, Deputy Com- 
missioner of the Naga Hills, wrote : " We arrived here 
all right on the 6th. No opposition. The Noksens 
had big stones all ready to roll down upon our heads, 
but they had not the pluck to stop and cut the rattan 
ropes by which they were held. The villagers fired 
their own houses as we approached." 

After the expedition had returned from the scene 
of the raid, Captain Mclntyre wrote us as follows: 
"You must take for granted that everywhere the 
paths were stuck with bamboo spikes, and bow-and- 
arrow traps set. As we were nearing Noksen village, 
a trap went off, the arrow passing between Mr. 
Porteous and myself without hitting either of us. 

"At Yeno, the Nagas strove to drive us back by 
threats and shouts, but retired as we approached. 
They set fire to their village ; but as there was no wind, 
only their granaries burned. 

" Santok appeared near, and we went on, never ex- 
pecting any particular resistance, but found Nagas in- 
trenched behind a long, thick wall, and a shower of 
arrows was let fly at us, yet no one was hit. We began 
with a volley, and were greatly surprised to find the 
Nagas would not halt. Some one must be killed, and 
my men were handicapped by the high wall in front. 
A Naga showed himself, firing a cross-bow from the 



126 



A CORNER IN INDIA 



corner of the intrenchment, and taking a rifle, I bowled 
him over, and my men fixing bayonets, we went up the 
hill with a hurrah. The Nagas bolted, setting fire to 
their village and completely destroying it. 

" Great preparations had been made for entering 
Mozung-Jamee, the stronghold of old warriors of this 
raiding tribe. They lay in ambush on the path. Mr. 
Maxwell, taking our advance, charged them, and the 
Mozungas bolted without much show of resistance, 
leaving three or four dead on the field. Mozung-Jamee 
is about one mile long, with five political wards, all 
stuck with sharp bamboo spikes round and round with 
great care, and with very precarious bridges over deep 
ditches, also filled with spikes. One sepoy lost his 
head and hands at the water ghat, and another was 
speared through the leg by these Mozunga men. 
Poisoned arrow-traps were found set everywhere." 

This punitive expedition visited eleven villages, nine 
of which were left in complete ruins, while two were 
partly destroyed. The most of the villages were burned 
by the people themselves. In the following April, 
1889, the Ao tribe was formally annexed to Brit- 
ish territory, all the villages officially visited, houses 
counted and revenue collected. 

From 1876 we had lived in this land of hostilities 
without the protection of a Christian government.- 
True, there was comparative safety when in 1885 this 
greater power declared there should be no more war; 
yet until this final act of incorporation into the Indian 



FROM THE BATTLE-AXE TO THE BRITISH FLAG 12? 

empire there was great unrest and distraction. Now, 
the earnest prayers of years were answered, and these 
mountain paths, so long tracked by cruelty and blood, 
were open for the coming of the messengers of the 
Prince of Peace. 

i 



XXII 



the naga hiUv suspension bridge; 

BETWEEN Molung and Amguri there were two 
rivers, and no bridges or boats at our command. 
The first, the Taero, was usually fordable, although 
ofttimes under the greatest difficulties ; while to cross 
the broader Jhanzi our carriers were dependent upon a 
chance dugout (a small boat hewn out of a solid log), 
or a tea-garden elephant, and we were often cut off 
from our mail and needed supplies for a fortnight, a 
month, or even longer. 

After long experiencing these difficulties, the coun- 
try now having become more settled, Mr. Clark con- 
ceived the idea of spanning the Jhanzi, above its con- 
fluence with the Taero, by a wire suspension bridge. 
Representative men of Molung being consulted and 
the project explained so far as possible, they were 
more than delighted, and very readily and gladly 
pledged the labor of the village for the construction of 
the bridge. The cold season came, the wire arrived 
at Amguri from Calcutta, a point on the river was 
chosen, and the working force of the village turned 
out full of enthusiasm for the new enterprise. 

A part of the laborers were detained to prepare the 
camp, while others were despatched to bring up the 
128 



THE NAGA HILL SUSPENSION BRIDGE I2Q 

material. When they saw those coils and coils of 
"only wire," they were discouraged, disheartened, 
and disgusted. " How can the Sahib make a bridge 
of only wire? Impossible, impossible!" they ex- 
claimed over and over again. However, they backed 
their loads, and with much grumbling and grunting 
and tugging reached the camp, and casting down the 
wire at Mr. Clark's feet declared this to be the end. 
Dejection spread rapidly, and the whole camp sat for 
a full half-day or longer murmuring and complaining. 
When a Naga is depressed, disheartened, or in doubt, 
it is almost impossible to move him. However, by 
exercising some sternness and more moral suasion, the 
men were brought to their feet. The stream was 
spanned with a bridge of rafts to connect the two 
shores, and the first suspension wire made fast to the 
base of large trees on opposite banks. 

The necessary number of wires having been strung, 
and the tension carefully adjusted, next came the ap- 
parently perilous work of flooring this high structure. 
Side wires were placed for guards, and to prevent the 
bridge from swaying, stay wires, extending from it on 
either side, were fastened high up in trees far away. 
The entire party then mounted the bridge, and its 
strength being clearly demonstrated to the satisfaction 
of all, the forest rang with shouts of victory. 

The bridge is two hundred feet span and forty feet 
or more above high-water mark. It was never in- 
tended for animals, yet the Nagas do in emergency 
i 



A CORNER IN INDIA 

drive over it their cows in taking them up from the 
plain. By occasionally renewing the bamboo floor, the 
bridge built in 1888 promises to last yet for many years. 

Only a short distance below the bridge is a good 
ford in the dry season, and there soon followed a fine 
bridle path all the way from Molung to Amguri. A 
liberal grant from the English government gave us 
this path, as also the cost of the material for the 
bridge. The appreciation by the more remote villagers 
of this new and easier route added greatly to our 
opportunities of reaching the people. 

Our English neighbors in the tea-gardens, interested 
and curious regarding this suspension bridge, invited 
us to join them there for a picnic. It was amusing to 
witness their undisguised wonder at the engineering 
skill of " only a missionary." 



XXIII 



REENFORCEMENTS 

THE oft-repeated request for help in establishing a 
much-needed higher grade of school for training 
teachers and evangelists was answered in the coming 
of Rev. and Mrs. S. A. Perrine in 1892. We met on 
the Brahmaputra River en route to our Assam confer- 
ence at Tura, in the Garo Hills. At this time I was 
taking what was generally conceded my final leave of 
Assam, but there lingered the deep conviction that this 
was not to be, and thus it proved when, with recuper- 
ated health and a joyous heart, I again joined my 
husband and the workers in the Naga Hills. 

Mrs. Perrine writes as follows of her early attempt 
in starting a young people's society : 

" The young people have taken hold splendidly, and 
we are greatly pleased that they are willing to lead 
and take part in the way suggested. Kilep, a son of 
one of the chief men of the village, led the first time 
under the new order. He was fearful that he would 
not speak ' proper words/ but finally consented to try. 
He was dressed in a comparatively clean blanket, and 
with tufts of new, clean, white cotton ornaments in 
his ears. It required much persuasion to induce him 
to stand up by the desk in front and face the people, 

131 



!32 A CORNER IN INDIA 

but he finally did it, and with my help gave out the 
hymns and read the Scripture, made a very good talk 
and called upon several to lead in prayer. 

"The next Sunday Bennie led the meeting. An 
American boy could not have done better. I sat near- 
by to help, but he conducted the services quite inde- 
pendently of me. In the 'conquest meeting ' three 
stood up and told us about mission work in Sibsagor. 
Their willingness to do this was very encouraging. 
Afterwards six young people led in prayer, and the 
interest is very hopeful." 

Mr. Perrine says: "A Naga prayer meeting is a 
prayer meeting. The Nagas come to pray, and they do 
what they come for. There are no long, killing pauses. 
All kneel during prayer, and at the conclusion join in 
the hearty ' amen.' I have been mightily impressed 
with the Naga amen. 

" In our school the Bible is the text-book, with such 
other books as directly bear on the Bible. Our pur- 
pose is to so help any one of any tribe that, on going 
from this school to his own or another people, he can 
tell the ' old, old story.' " 

In the school at Molung— and this has since been 
continued in the training school at Impur— it was de- 
cided to use the English language in connection with 
the vernaculars. As there were no books in the Naga 
Hills, save as the missionaries made them, it seemed 
desirable that the pupils be also educated in a tongue 
in which there were already text-books, and also that 



REENFORCEMENTS 



133 



they have access to the entire Bible before it would be 
possible to translate it into the different tongues of 
the hills. 

At the close of 1893 the mission force for the hill 
work was further augmented by the arrival of Rev. F. 
P. Haggard and family. There was not much spare 
room on the crest of Molung Hill for additional bunga- 
lows. Hence the school was moved into the chapel, 
and with some few additions and partitions easily ac- 
complished by the Nagas with bamboos and mats, the 
schoolhouse was converted into a comfortable tem- 
porary dwelling for Mr. and Mrs. Haggard and their 
two children. In fact, all the houses of the mission- 
aries were of temporary character, as previous to an- 
nexation to British territory no builders from Assam 
would come to us. The Nagas, with the help of the 
missionaries, were the architects. 

For the benefit of those who think that missionaries 
live too luxuriously, we copy from Mr. Haggard's 
letters on his entrance upon the Ao Naga work. 
His letters also show how necessary all-around 
missionaries are for frontier fields. 

" Possibly you would like to know why I have been 
so busy of late. We have been transforming an old 
schoolhouse into a dwelling, and since it was necessary 
to finish it before the rainy season began, we had to 
hurry. We are now fully installed, and I am writing 
upon my desk that I made from a box in which some 
of our goods came from America. Our kitchen table, 



134 



A CORNER IN INDIA 



washstand, bureau, cupboards, etc., have the same 
origin. You see, we do not care to put on any style 
here, but we are glad to be able to live happily and 
cosily and contentedly amid our surroundings, so dif- 
ferent and with resources so much less than we had in 
America. Our house has three rooms and a storeroom, 
is built of rough-hewn posts, roof covered with grass, 
the side walls with two thicknesses of bamboo mats, 
the inner one finer and lighter than the outer. They 
are both woven by the Nagas, and afford only a 
partial protection from the cold." 

Alluding to the millions stretching far back to 
Burma, Mr. Haggard further writes: "The thought 
of these vast hordes both inspires and discourages me. 
These people, when converted, have the same experi- 
ence that we have at home. They sing ' Happy day 
that fixed my choice/ translated into their own tongue, 
and in prayer they come very near to the throne of 
grace. The trouble is, we missionaries are so few. We 
must be our own carpenters and builders, keep a 
large garden, have the care of goats and cows and 
ponies, mend our own shoes, saddles, and tinware; in 
short, because of our distance from civilization, must 
become 'jack of all trades/ The most earnest study 
of missions on your part will still fail to give you 
an adequate conception of the situation. It cannot be 
described by word or pen. One must ste for him- 
self, and then, like the Queen of Sheba, he will 
involuntarily exclaim, ' The half was not told me/ 




I 

j 



I 



REENFORCEMENTS 



135 



" While all seemed so strange at first, it is all so nat- 
ural now that we feel perfectly at home. These peo- 
ple seem like our own brethren; we cannot repudiate 
their kinship. We must love them and give to them 
the bread of life. I never realized this so fully before. 
To the natural man these people would be revolting, 
but in Christ all is changed." * 

Since Molung was nearly at one extremity of the 
Ao tribe, we early began looking around toward the 
planting of a more central station. Such a site had 
already been chosen, subject to the approval of those 
who might join us. It was located between and near 
two large villages. In the tours of Mr. Clark and the 
native evangelists the gospel had been preached about 
there, but as yet these people would have none of it. 
Now, with this strong reenforcement of the mission, 
there came also redoubled energy and courage. New 
lines of work were inaugurated. Our long-projected 
plan was considered and its early execution entered 
upon with the hope of eventually reaching other tribes. 
From the beginning it was never contemplated stop- 
ping alone with these tribes bordering on the frontier ; 
but on and on, conquering and to conquer, beyond and 
still beyond, until these mountains should be spanned 
and the kingdom of our Lord extended from the Brah- 
maputra to the Irawady, and from the Irawady to 
the Yangtse. 

The proposed new site was visited and approved by 
the three missionaries, and steps were taken for the 



136 



A CORNER IN INDIA 



purchase of a considerable tract of land, sufficient for 
necessary bungalows, outhouses, and the no very dis- 
tant Naga Hill Educational Institute, with dormitories. 
Some of the especially conservative old warriors were 
not in favor of having this new religion brought so 
near ; others said, " It is taking too much land " ; to 
others the price was a great temptation, and after an- 
noying delays, with much parleying, the needful land 
was secured, about eighty acres, for eighty-two dollars. 

Mr. Haggard says : " What a time we did have set- 
tling with them! All villages are little democracies, 
so the business must be done through a council, which 
we found very tedious, for they must talk, talk, talk. 
We consider the site an ideal one, being central to the 
tribe, near the great government bridle path, and only 
a few miles from government headquarters for the Ao 
tribe. We shall also be between two villages with an 
aggregate population of five thousand, and not far from 
others. It is a beautiful site, on the crest of the 
mountain." 

Temporary, rude bamboo houses were put up, and 
occupied by the Perrines and Haggards in the autumn 
of 1894. Of the removal and settling in these temporary 
homes, Mr. Perrine writes : " The new station is from 
thirty to thirty-five miles south of Molung, but as far 
in time and hardships as from Chicago to San Fran- 
cisco. If you don't know how much ' stuff ' you have, 
move to the Naga Hills, and you will find out. It is a 
big job to load up hundreds of coolies, a bigger one to 



REEN FORCEMENTS 



137 



get them started off, and a still larger work to pay 
them off and get rid of them. Oh, the wrangling and 
parleying! A Naga will sit and argue and parley as 
long as one will listen and answer him. Life in the 
jungles of this frontier is a Swiss Family Robinson 
sort of life with variations. Mrs. Haggard asked* 
' Where in all the world are there people who do so 
many kinds of work as we?' while Mrs. Clark often 
remarks, ' It is a chore to live in the Naga Hills/ 
There is plenty of rough work, and plenty of play for 
one's wits in order to adapt means to an end, and use a 
wild and crude people. 

" Napalese sawyers were gotten here to saw the lum- 
ber for the bungalows. Nagas had no such instru- 
ments, neither did they know how to use them, but as 
many as two hundred in one day brought lumber on 
their backs from the forest, from two to four miles dis- 
tant. Chinese carpenters, under the direction of Mr. 
Dring, of the Garo mission, built the bungalows, and 
we all worked as general helpers at all trades. The 
missionaries agreed that a native or a semi-native 
house for a missionary does not pay; it costs more in 
the end in time and means than a permanent house, 
and is in no way satisfactory. Let no one get the im- 
pression that all of our surroundings are ideally per- 
fect — that we have no trials, no strain on our patience, 
and what is more, nothing to test our faith and 
Christian character." 



XXIV 



WHITE RIBBONERS 

MR. CLARK and I tarried at Molung upwards of 
a year after the Perrines and Haggards removed 
to Impur, and our remaining at this, our old, first home 
among these people, was amply rewarded. 

I quote from a letter written at this period : " A re- 
ligious and social reform has been quietly going on at 
Molung, beginning with a young man, who, strength- 
ened by the Holy Spirit and helped by Assamese 
teacher Zilli, laid hold of one of his companions, and 
by persistent, prayerful effort brought him to Christ. 
Here were now two promising young men, the pick of 
the village, educated in the school, one, the son of our 
most influential village official, and the hearts of both 
filled with the love of Jesus, and set for the defense of 
his kingdom and social purity. Every form of demon 
worship, open or suspected, was attacked— Sunday- 
breaking, rice-beer drinking, licentiousness, and all so- 
cial vices. One after another of the young people were 
pressed into the ranks, and the White Ribbon Society, 
without the name, or buttonholes in which to wear the 
badge, grew in numbers and influence and power. 
Instead of congregating promiscuously at different 
houses to sleep at night, singing objectionable songs, 
138 



WHITE RIBBONERS 



139 



telling doubtful stories, and engaging in lewd conver- 
sation, these young reformers separated themselves and 
built a dormitory for their own accommodation, in 
which purity and holiness should reign. Here at morn- 
ing and evening time the voice of prayer and songs of 
praise are heard. A note received from one of my 
schoolboys, proud of his English, tells me of his inter- 
est in the Christian Endeavor meeting, and that he and 
one of his schoolmates * will ask last Sunday before the 
church to baptize/ 

"As the harvest time approached, with the accus- 
tomed reaping in ' bees/ with more or less drinking 
and feasting, we were solicitous for these young Chris- 
tians. But prayers prevailed, and through these days 
of trial they came forth unscathed. When called to 
work where the rice-beer was served, these withdrew 
from the crowd and ate their midday meal by them- 
selves ; and when they called the neighbors to harvest 
their crops no beer was served. If a pig were to fur- 
nish the meal where these ' white ribboners ' worked, 
they insisted upon its being killed in the village, lest, 
if slain on the field, suspicious persons might construe 
it as secretly appeasing a cultivation deity, and they 
would have none of this. On returning one morning 
from our woman's early prayer meeting — and where are 
trysts with Christ more precious? — I met old Mopoimba 
scolding and storming through the village, saying he had 
never seen things on this wise before. He couldn't get 
any one to carry his live pig to the harvest field ; it must 



140 



A CORNER IN INDIA 



be killed first; even his own boys (two were among the 
reformers) would not serve him. 

" Prayer meetings have been called for the sick, and 
there has been no small stir among the diviners and 
soothsayers, who are fast losing their gains. Our 
chapel has been filled, all the religious services well 
sustained; there have been adult prayer meetings, 
young people's prayer meetings, children's prayer 
meetings, and street preaching. The older Christians 
have been in sympathy with the movement, renewing 
their covenant vows, and during the cold season sixty 
new converts have been baptized. The examinations 
are thorough, and the knowledge evinced of the funda- 
mental principles of Christianity is unusually satisfac- 
tory. Total abstinence from all intoxicants is required. 
One of our young reformers has his house built and is 
all ready to receive his intended bride, but he will not 
marry her until she promises — and practises too — to 
give up rice-beer drinking. 

" Our last harvest home festival showed the largest 
amount of rice ever brought in on such an occasion. 
It was sold for fourteen rupees, almost five dollars. As 
we congratulated the people on being able to con- 
tribute so much more now than in the old war days, 
one replied, ' Why, yes, in the old war days, before we 
knew the only true God and our new-found King Jesus, 
and kept his Sabbath, we scarcely saw a pice. With so 
many heavy war indemnities, guards to be maintained 
about the village and on the cultivation, and costly 



Page 140 On a Preaching Tour 



WHITE RIB BONERS 



141 



sacrifices for the old demon worship, we were half 
starved/ 

" Our people tell us that many times they had only 
one good meal a day, which they took in the morning, 
cheating their stomachs at night, as they said, ' when 
sleep would cause us to forget our hunger/ " 



first raw,y of christian clans 

THE first rally of the churches was held at Molung 
in 1897. Mr. and Mrs. Haggard having entered 
upon the work in the Lhota tribe, a long way removed, 
were unable to be present. The first to arrive after a 
three days' march were Mr. and Mrs. Perrine, with 
baby Linden, four months old, in a basket on a Naga's 
back; and their preachers, helpers, and load-carriers; 
then came representatives from other churches, until 
every available shelter on our compound was brought 
into requisition, but the hospitality of the village was 
sufficient for the accommodation of all. 

The first day of the Association was ushered in with 
a severe March storm. During the previous night the 
winds howled and roared, while the old mat bungalow 
trembled and shook until we arose from our beds to be 
prepared for whatsoever might happen. The morning 
.dawn found the occupants of the bungalow all right, 
but the house was in terrible disorder. The roof on one 
side was lifted, and the litter from old mats and bam- 
boos and decaying thatch was everywhere; yet this 
seemed a small matter, when it was discovered that an 
opening had been made in our fowl-house and the 
" association fatted calf," chickens, and ducks had been 
142 



FIRST RALLY OF CHRISTIAN CLANS 1 43 

feasted on by tiger-cats, leaving but two out of twenty- 
eight. In a place where there are no markets this was 
decidedly disappointing. But the end was not yet ; less 
than twenty-four hours passed when ten cows and 
calves from our herd were found scattered in the 
jungle, victims of tigers. One cow, giving less than 
one quart of milk a day, was alone spared us wherewith 
to entertain our guests. 

Still further trials awaited us. There came messen- 
gers from our government demanding promptly the serv- 
ices of our people, and we greatly feared the breaking 
up of our long-anticipated associational meetings. The 
missionaries finally decided to take the responsibility 
of detaining our men for a few days; a note to this 
effect was speedily despatched to the English officer 
and the request was cheerfully granted. This matter 
settled, the first evening of the meeting was devoted to 
conference and prayer. 

The following morning the first subject on the pro- 
gramme was prayer. Other topics were evangelization, 
the Holy Spirit, Christian benevolence, shall the Nagas 
bury their dead? should all Christians learn to read? 
by what changes in food, houses, sanitation, and 
clothing shall Christians better their mode of living? 

We were very pleasantly surprised by the spirit, 
animation, earnestness, and even ability with which 
these questions were handled, especially by some just 
out of the darkness of heathenism. The last subject 
may differ somewhat from those considered in like 



144 



A CORNER IN INDIA 



home gatherings; some costume, a little more cloth, 
was recommended. 

The matter of disposing of the dead was well dis- 
cussed and burial approved, rather than enclosing the 
body in a miniature leaf-house placed on an elevated 
platform. Only four days later there came a practical 
test of this decision in the death of little Pee-tor 
(Peter), the name chosen from the Scriptures for the 
firstborn of our young Naga pastor, Kilep. The Chris- 
tians gathered at the house for prayer ; a small box was 
provided, the little form placed therein, religious serv- 
ices held at the chapel, when followed the first burial 
of the dead in all these mountain villages. 

It was decided to hold these associational meetings 
annually, and the Yazang church extended a very cor- 
dial invitation for the next year. Immediately follow- 
ing these meetings, a teachers' and preachers' institute 
was conducted by Mr. Perrine with much profit. The 
first Sabbath after these meetings two persons from 
another village were baptized. A good religious inter- 
est continued and upward of twenty new names were 
enrolled on our church book. 



XXVI 



MOIyUNG TO IMPUR 

OUR Assamese helper, Zilli, had been ordained and 
placed over the church at Molung ; a Naga young 
man was chosen and supported by the church as his 
assistant in pastoral and school work. The Christian 
element of the village now seemed fully competent to 
care for the spiritual and temporal interests here, and 
it was thought best that the missionary force should 
all be gathered at Impur, leaving this little Christian 
colony to walk alone. 

With full hearts we took leave of our old, first home 
among this people, where we had spent so many happy 
and anxious days. The final Sabbath was a blessed 
day. Meetings for the examination of candidates for 
baptism were held on Friday and Saturday evenings, 
and on Sunday morning twenty-seven arose from the 
baptismal waters to newness of life. How could we 
but thank God that he had permitted us to come 
hither? At this time my journal reads: ' 
" To tear ourselves away from these, our very own 
in the Lord, is indeed heart-breaking, and we believe 
too that the people are sincere in their expressions of 
grief. The chapel on this last Sabbath was trimmed 
with foliage and flowers, and was filled with people 
k 145 



146 



A CORNER IN INDIA 



both morning and evening, while many were at the 
door unable to gain entrance. Special services were 
arranged by the Christians, in which many took part. 
The prayers were earnest and touching; we cried and 
the people cried, tears coursing down the hardened 
cheeks of old-time warriors unused to weep." , 
Everything possible was done to help us on our way. 
Men volunteered as load-carriers ; village officials hon- 
ored us by their presence for a considerable distance; 
women and children affectionately accompanied us to 
the next neighboring village; there were young men 
too, going along to the Impur Training School. With 
our loads, many and exceedingly diverse, and with 
flocks and herds, we reached Impur the third day, and 
were joyously welcomed and entertained by our mis- 
sionary associates. We had left much ; we had come to 
much. 

Impur is an ideal, picturesque location, a little over 
four thousand feet altitude, with pretty rolling lands, 
and a little eminence for each of the three bungalows. 
From our crest we look on peaks and peaks beyond, six 
thousand, eight thousand, even ten thousand feet ele- 
vation, from which the waters course Burma-ward. 
The missionaries named the place Impur, meaning in 
Naga dialect chieftown, a center, from which even now 
the light of the Cross is shining afar. 

Impur is one hundred miles from Kohima, the head- 
quarters of British rule in the Naga hills, and about 
ten miles from Mokokchung, the subdivisional head- 



MOLUNG TO IMPUR 



147 



quarters, where one English officer with a native po- 
lice force is located. Our little mission oasis hears from 
the outer world by government mail every two days (at 
present writing a daily mail). Following the main 
mountain ridges, a fine bridle path with a grade of " one 
in ten " has been constructed from Kohima via Wokha 
and Mokokchung to a military post in the plain, about 
one hundred and sixty miles. Impur is only two miles 
from this grand trunk line. From Impur to Moriani, 
our nearest station in the plain, is about fifty miles. 

Along these routes are very comfortable rest-houses, 
separated by easy day's marches. These houses are 
furnished with tables, chairs, and bedsteads, where the 
traveler may find lodging, bringing with him his own 
bedding, food, crockery, and cooking utensils. Govern- 
ment and the mission jointly have also improved old 
paths along other lines and made them possible for 
ponies, thus enabling the missionary now to ride 
through a considerable portion of his parish. 

There was soon gathered at Impur quite a little 
community of Christian workers. A little church was 
organized, and the place became a real beehive of ear- 
nest, consecrated work. Mr. Haggard taught the 
preachers how to preach and visited among the vil- 
lages, looking after the churches and giving the gospel 
to the heathen. Mrs. Haggard, in addition to assisting 
her husband and caring for her own Roy, Hattie, and 
Harold, had an important part in this school work. The 
click, click of her sewing-machine, run by an Assamese 



148 



A CORNER IN INDIA 



under her superintendence, sounded very civilized 
and businesslike on these far-away mountaintops, 
promising much as an elevating influence in clothing 
those who were gradually coming to realize their 
present insufficiency. 

Mr. Clark devoted himself more especially to his 
Naga-English dictionary and translation work. Mr. 
and Mrs. Perrine were over the Training School, pre- 
paring young men for pastors, evangelists, and day- 
school teachers, and young women to be suitable wives 
for such men. The school opened with nine pupils ; it 
soon numbered sixty; upwards of ninety were last 
reported. 

Our school and chapel building was a rude structure 
and the seats ruder still, but through the kindness of a 
special gift, added to contributions by the missionaries, 
we soon had a fine, modern-seated house. There are 
dormitories for the boys, and the widow of our 
lamented Zilli is matron for the girls. Boys and girls 
whose parents do not support them work a part of 
each day to pay for their rice and schooling. The 
pupils studying in this Training School are, many of 
them, sons and daughters of old-time head-cutters, 
who still carry their decorated spears and battle-axes 
and wear insignia emblematical of bloody deeds. 

While each missionary had his own department, 
there were frequent conferences, to which each one 
brought his encouragements and perplexities. We 
laughed and were glad as in one of these gatherings the 



MOLUNG TO IMPUR 



149 



head of the Training School, in referring to the merits 
of his different pupils, declared that " the young man 
from Waramong is a ' clipper from away back.' " 

Imonungshi, a most unpromising fellow, given to 
drink and with an expressionless face, was asked by 
Mrs. Perrine if he would paint the house. He began, 
but soon it seemed as if he had mistaken his orders. 
Such a sight ! Hair, arms, and legs alike were covered 
with a good share of the contents of the paint pail. He 
had been repeatedly labored with for his drunken 
sprees, but insisted that the habit was uncontrollable. 
However, as Mr. Perrine entered the schoolroom one 
morning, behold Imo was there at his a, b, c's. Mr. 
Perrine tried to dissuade him from this seemingly 
useless attempt, as he had, up to this time, appeared 
unusually dull. But a new light was now in his eyes, a 
fixed and holy purpose in his savage heart, and he said : 
" Teacher, I'll come to school forty years if necessary 
to learn to read." Together they knelt in prayer, and 
since, with Christ as his Master, Imo has gone on from 
strength to strength. He attended school regularly, 
and in due time was chosen pastor of the Impur church. 
'His first sermon was five minutes long, and he had to 
be prompted in his Scripture reading. Behold what 
hath God wrought! 



XXVII 



AMONG THE LHOTAS 

REV. W. E. WITTER and wife arriving in Assam 
in 1884, full of American rush and speed, were 
soon prostrated from overwork at Sibsagor. 

It is not well for the Christian white 

To hustle the Aryan brown, 
For the Christian writhes and the Aryan smiles 

And weareth the Christian down. 

The more invigorating climate of the Naga Hills was 
suggested, and Wokha village, in the Lhota tribe, a 
commanding situation forty-four hundred feet above 
sea-level was selected. English political control had 
just been extended over this tribe, and a subdivisional 
officer with a native military force was in command, 
making this a comparatively safe place for mission 
work. A bridle path to the plains made Wokha acces- 
sible, rendering still more desirable this connecting 
link between the Angamis and Aos. With Kohima, 
sixty miles southwest, already occupied, also Molung, 
ninety miles northeast, a grand trunk line of missions 
to the Nagas would thus be opened. The importance 
of an early occupation of this field had already been 
pressed upon the Missionary Union. 

Rev. P. H. Moore, of Nowgong, and Mr. Witter, 
150 



AMONG THE LHOTAS 



therefore, visited Molung to consult about this matter. 
Mr. Witter thus relates the outcome of that conference : 
" The year 1885 found the Lhotas still unprovided for. 
Brother Clark, however, believing that God was unmis- 
takably calling upon us to enter this field without 
delay, after taking a few rapid, nervous paces across 
the trembling bamboo floor of his rude house at 
Molung, exclaimed: 'If the Witters will occupy 
Wokha at once the expense of their transfer shall be 
met/ Accordingly a telegram was sent to the Deputy 
Commissioner of the Naga Hills asking permission to 
open a mission station among the Lhotas. The reply 
was favorable, an old, abandoned rest-house was placed 
at our disposal, and March 31, 1885, our first dear home 
with its blessed memories of work among the Assamese 
and Kohls was left, and a tea estate near the foot of 
the hills was reached April 7th. Here we were met by 
Rev. C. D. King, of Kohima, who had traveled one hun- 
dred and twenty miles on foot to help us on our new 
and untried way. Mr. King was accompanied by 
several native police and a hundred Naga coolies." 

Mrs. Witter writes : " The first part of our march was 
in the plains through dense jungle. Mr. King and Mr. 
Witter took turns riding our pony and tramping. I 
was mounted on an old gray pony. We found the frail 
bamboo bridges very treacherous, and suddenly I felt 
my pony sinking beneath me. Mr. King snatched me 
from the saddle, only to lose me in water almost beyond 
my depth. But I soon touched bottom, and almost as 



152 



A CORNER IN INDIA 



quickly was dragged to the shore, thoroughly drenched. 
The pony escaped with only a sprain. 

" The next day's march was up and down hills along 
a narrow path, one side of which was flanked by a per- 
pendicular wall of rock, and on the other side one could 
look down, down, hundreds of feet. We had beautiful 
bits of scenery, and the ever-shifting lights and shad- 
ows on the hillsides. The last day's journey con- 
vinced me that, until then, I knew nothing of Naga hill 
roads. We had come to one of the short cuts, a gen- 
uine Naga path, over which these men delight in 
clambering, requiring hands as well as feet. 

" After many varied and exciting experiences Wokha 
station was reached. Our only white neighbor is the 
subdivisional officer, who occupies another rude rest- 
house. We have only two rooms, mud walls, earth 
floor, so dirty the mud falls off, the dirt sifts through 
the walls, and there is no ceiling, only the grass roof 
over our heads. The bamboos are so full of boring 
insects that a white powder is constantly falling, and 
the large colony of rats is as much at home as are we. 
For our pantry we have a couple of boxes, with shelves, 
curtained. Our wardrobe is but a rope, over which we 
hang our clothes. It is a puzzling question where to 
store all of our things. This miserable little hut is too 
insecure to withstand the fierce winds and fearful rains, 
and we are seriously considering an outlay of from 
twenty to thirty dollars for a new house, as a necessity 
for health and comfort through the long rainy season 



AMONG THE LHOTAS 



153 



just at hand. A new language is to be acquired, and 
there is not a letter, not one Christian person, not one 
who has ever heard the name of Jesus. The many- 
sepoys and sepoys' children here understand Assamese, 
and we are finding that our stay in Sibsagor was 
•greatly to our advantage. Our use of the Assamese 
tongue enables us to begin work at once, and we have 
a little school in Assamese and religious services every 
Sabbath. But our hearts are not at rest. The Nagas 
swarm about us on every hand, and we are making 
pundits of our servants. We do love these wild people. 
Our Naga boys are interesting us more and more ; they 
creep right into our hearts. Every day we are so glad 
we are here. It will be a pleasure to work among these 
people if we are permitted to remain." 

Mr. Witter's health improved much by the bracing 
mountain air, and there was joy and gladness and hope 
in this happy little mountain eyrie, " busy, busy all the 
time." In less than a year it became necessary to make 
the long, hard journey of sixty miles to Kohima for 
medical attendance. As soon as it was deemed prudent 
they set out again for Wokha, with tiny, seven-weeks- 
old Volney in a snug little canopied box on a Naga's 
back, returning, as Mrs. Witter said, "with a little 
hindering helper." 

By some change in the English officials a large gov- 
ernment rest-house was offered them free of rent, 
which, with the doors and windows Mr. Witter had 
already provided for a new house, made them very 



154 



A CORNER IN INDIA 



comfortable without the expense in money and time of 
building. Their organ and stove had been gotten up 
from Sibsagor, adding much to their pleasure and com- 
fort. The organ proved very useful in the work and 
amused the Nagas greatly. 

But a dark cloud was fast forming over this happy, 
hopeful horizon. There was no uncertain warning in 
the failing health of both Mr. and Mrs. Witter, and the 
latter was taken to the hospitable mission bungalow at 
Nowgong, Assam, where she might receive proper 
medical aid and nursing. Mr. Witter, in response to 
recent inquiries, says : " We left Assam in the spring 
of 1888. Mrs. Witter never returned to the mountains 
after the birth of Marjorie, and Marjorie was six 
months old when I first saw her. I remained on at 
Wokha alone until I was so reduced in health as to be 
unable to pack up and go to Kohima, so Brother Riven- 
burg came over and packed my things for me and took 
me to his home, where I remained several months and 
completed the outline grammar of the Lhota Naga 
language, with a vocabulary which was published by 
the government of India, appearing in print just two 
days before we left for America. Aside from the gram- 
mar we made typewritten primers, from which our 
Lhota boys learned to read, and Mrs. Witter translated 
the Assamese catechism into Lhota, and it was she who 
began the first formal teaching of divine truth to this 
people. She also translated the first hymn, ' There is 
a Happy Land/ Afterward I translated several hymns, 



AMONG THE LHOTAS 



155 



which were greatly enjoyed by the people. We also 
translated portions of the New Testament, which were 
typewritten, but not published. These portions, with 
the hymns, were sent to Mr. Haggard when he began 
his work among the Lhotas. Mrs. Witter has always 
thought that one or two of the boys whom she taught 
to sing, and to whom she so repeatedly told the story 
of the Saviour, did really pass out of death into life, 
but they were young and under the control of pagan 
parents." 

For several years circumstances prevented further 
mission work among the Lhotas. Rev. F. P. Haggard, 
while among the Aos at Impur, visited much among 
the Lhota villages, and with his family lived at Wokha 
portions of the years 1896- 1897, and was greatly en- 
couraged in the prosecution of the work. While there 
he wrote : " Two Lhota pundits have been secured and 
much time will be spent in the study of the language. 
It is nearly ten years since the Witters closed their 
short but eventful and profitable labors at Wokha. 
They are well remembered by the people. The seed sowed 
will yet bring forth fruit. I am now able to join with my 
boys in a couple of hymns that I have made. We can also 
repeat a version of the Lord's Prayer in Lhota. A 
daily service is inspiring to us all. The people seem 
thoroughly interested, and I have reason to believe 
that some, at least, of this interest is not wholly ephem- 
eral. I am especially pleased with the persistent desire 
of so many to learn." 



156 



A CORNER IN INDIA 



The Missionary Union, however, being straitened 
financially, asked the Haggards to return to the work 
at Impur, and thus the Lhotas were a second time left 
without gospel heralds. 

In December, 1896, Zilli, our Assamese preacher and 
teacher among the Aos, was appointed to this work. 
He visited the field and made all arrangements for the 
removal of his family to Wokha, when he was suddenly 
taken ill, and on Christmas Day with aching, disap- 
pointed hearts we followed his body to the open grave 
in our little cemetery at Impur. 

Later Robi, an Assamese worker at Impur, was sent 
to Wokha and was received by the people with many 
expressions of favor. A very hopeful feature of our 
work among the Lhotas is that for the past few years 
there have been Lhota boys, and more recently several 
Lhota girls, in the Impur Training School, a number of 
whom have been baptized. One of these boys has 
already been preaching among his people. Boys from 
the Sema tribe, which borders on the Lhota, have also 
attended the school at Impur, whence go evangelists, 
pastors, and school-teachers to herald the gospel mes- 
sage in many villages of these savage tribes. A fairly 
strong church has been established among the Lhotas 
at Okotsa. 



XXVIII 



TANGKHUI/ NAGAS 



HE Arthington Aborigines Mission " was an 



X organization sustained largely by Mr. Arthington, 
an English gentleman of the Society of Friends. He 
was a large giver to missions, his contribution being 
always for pioneer work, with instructions that only 
two workers go to a place, learn the language, give the 
gospel to the people, then move on to other fields, not 
tarrying to perpetuate their work. 

In 1895 Rev. William Pettigrew, of this mission, 
having applied for admittance to the Missionary Union, 
opened a station in 1896 at Ukhrul, among the Tang- 
khul Nagas, in Manipur. This is nominally an inde- 
pendent State, but until the ascension to the throne of 
its now minor raja (king) is subject to the government 
of Assam. The population of this State approaches 
three hundred thousand, and Mr. Pettigrew, while not 
permitted to give religious instruction to the Manipuris 
proper, has done good service along educational lines, 
serving as government inspector of schools. 

The labors of this lone worker and his wife have 
been greatly blessed among the Tangkhuls. Already 
a goodly number of young men of this savage tribe 
have openly confessed Christ and are exercising a 




i57 



158 



A CORNER IN INDIA 



strong influence in favor of the missionary and his mes- 
sage. Schools have been established and churches 
organized. Mr. Pettigrew has put several school text- 
books through the press, a hymn-book, and translations 
of Luke, John, and the Acts of the Apostles. 

A Garo Christian baptized by Dr. Bronson, formerly 
of the Assam mission, is medical compounder at the 
capital, Manipur, and renders some assistance to the 
missionary. Thus the fruits of the faithful labors of 
our crowned ones are being gathered. 

Mr. Pettigrew writes: "There is no record of the 
gospel being introduced or any missionary entering 
this interesting and beautiful country up to the end of 
1893. William Carey and his associates at Serampore 
(India) evidently came in touch with some Mani- 
puris, for we have the whole New Testament translated 
into their language and printed by the press at Seram- 
pore in 1824. There is only one known copy of this 
work, and that is in the library of the British and 
Foreign Bible Society, London." 

The opening of this mission is a long link in the 
chain extending across these hills from Assam, via 
Kohima and Manipur, to Burma. 

After a much-needed furlough in England the Petti- 
grews have now returned to Manipur, Mr. Pettigrew 
further equipped for effective mission work by the 
study of medicine. 



XXIX 



HOMEWARD BOUND 

THE happy circle at Impur, full of work and glad 
anticipations, was broken in February, 1899, by 
the return to America of Mr. and Mrs. Haggard and 
their three children. Their furlough over, while en- 
route to Assam they were recalled from London by the 
Missionary Union to meet an emergency in the home 
service in which they have since been engaged. This 
was a great disappointment to them personally and a 
severe blow to the Naga Hill Mission. Mr. Haggard, 
first an assistant secretary, then editorial, is now one 
of the Corresponding Secretaries of the Missionary 
Union. 

Soon Mr. and Mrs. Perrine sailed for the homeland 
and Mr. Clark and I were again left alone so far as mis- 
sionary associates were concerned. We toured among 
the villages, visiting churches and schools, and carried 
the gospel to hundreds of pagan warriors, my bearer 
now a pony instead of relays of strong Nagas. 

Soon after the arrival of Rev. and Mrs. Dowd, in 
1901, the word rapidly spread to distant villages that 
Mr. Clark and I were about to leave the hills, perhaps 
finally. The people came in swarms to see us, and old- 
time warriors pleaded, " Father, why will you go? Is 

159 



x 6o A CORNER IN INDIA 

there not some place in this country where the Mem 
Sahib can get well?" " But we have told you again 
and again of the one Supreme Rajah and you have not 
heeded. Why should we stay longer? " Then came the 
piteous answer, " Yes, we have grown old in the bad 
way, but we want our children to be better. We are 
all so much happier and more prosperous under this 
reign of peace. Oh, do not leave us ! " February 28, 
1901, will we ever— can we ever — forget it? 

We were five days on ponies in reaching the plain, 
nearing which a chorus of many voices singing in Assa- 
mese greeted our ears, and soon in the little rest-house 
at the foot of the hills we were taking tea with these 
welcoming Christians from the tea-gardens. An Eng- 
lish planter and his wife drove up ; others from near-by 
gardens called, while quartered in the one other room 
of the little rest-house was our own missionary, Rev. 
O. L. Swanson, from Golaghat. 

The next morning, six miles by dog-cart brought us 
to Moriani, then twenty-five miles " narrow gage " to 
the Brahmaputra, and five days later we reached the 
cky of palaces, Calcutta. En route down the Brahma- 
putra we were met by Doctor and Mrs. Rivenburg and 
their one " flower," Narola, twelve years of age, whom 
they committed to our charge— a sacred trust— while 
they turned back to their lonely home in the far-away 
mountains. Is this the romance of missions ? Let those 
who think so try it. 

Less than a half-day's journey from Calcutta, in the 



HOMEWARD BOUND l6l 

treacherous Hoogly, our steamer suddenly lurched, and 
from our submerged cabin it was with great difficulty 
that I was rescued. Great excitement prevailed lest the 
grounded vessel sink and all be lost. In due time, 
however, all the passengers were conveyed to a 
steam launch, some drenched and all baggageless, and 
returned to Calcutta. | 
Our second embarkation was on the old-established 
steamship line, the " P. and O.," from which we landed 
safely in old England. Then just a little " run across," 
and home, home, home! If you want to know the 
meaning of that dear word be a missionary. 



XXX 



DAYBREAK 

WHEN we entered " A Corner of India " the dark- 
ness seemed impenetrable. Lo, the morning 
breaketh ! Then " Stay out " was the rallying cry of 
savage warriors. Now " Come and welcome " is the 
ringing call to the young men and women of America 
who are saying, " Here am I, send me." Glorious har- 
vests await the reapers. Eleven little churches, ap- 
proaching eight hundred members, and our splendid 
training school proclaim the hastening day. The work 
fascinates one. " The doctor's orders have broken my 
heart," wrote Mrs. Perrine just previous to leaving 
with her husband for America, 1905. " Do you know 
the Naga Hills and the people were never so attractive 
to me? It seems as if I could not leave them. There 
is just one place for me, and that is right here among 
the Nagas. There is so much to do ; we are all so busy. 
Mr. Perrine's office is a perfect beehive from 7.30 a. m. 
to 4 p. m. We are making books in the Sema and 
Lhota languages." 

"After many years of siege and storming," writes 
Mrs. Dowd, " the chief fort has been taken, Lungkum, 
the largest village in the Ao tribe, and one which has 
longest withstood our battering rams. The smaller 
162 



DAYBREAK I 63 

villages have been saying, ' When Lungkum becomes 
Christian, then we will.' A boy from our training 
school became a Christian, married a Christian girl, 
and returned to this village to teach and to preach. 
Now the head man professes to have accepted the new 
religion and has come to ask that baptism be adminis- 
tered to him in his own village as a witness to neigh- 
bors and friends of his allegiance to 1 King Jesus.' He 
came for this interview dressed in all his old war finery, 
covered with symbols of heads of enemies he had 
brought to his village." 

The reception of my husband by this village on his 
return to the Naga Hills in 1904 was truly royal and in 
striking contrast with his first visit, nineteen years pre- 
vious, when accompanying an English military expedi- 
tion necessitated by these warlike people. Doctor Clark 
is now devoting himself principally to literary work, 
always in such demand when savage hearts are tamed 
and eager for the knowledge that makes for righteous- 
ness. Now, with the gospel well entrenched among the 
Aos, with several Christian communities among the 
Lhotas, the promise of an early break among the 
powerful and numerous Semas, and farther on the work 
already going forward among the Angamis and Tang- 
khuls, the eye of faith can easily foresee the joyful 
greetings of the frontier heralds of the cross in Assam 
as they clasp hands with those from Burma on some 
one of those mountain crests and shout, " Oh, clap your 
hands, all ye people ; shout unto Jehovah with the voice 



A CORNER IN INDIA 



of triumph, for the Lord most high is terrible ; He is 
a great King over all the earth." 

Yes, " On and still on " must be our watchword, for 
not only can we see this blessed meeting and hear this 
joyful cry from the borders of Assam and Burma, but 
even now the Missionary Union is re-establishing the 
work at Sadiya in the persons of Reverend and Mrs. 
Jackman, and thus on to Tibet must hasten the banner 
of glad tidings, until our missionaries from Assam, 
marching through western China, plant the cross 
among the Tibetans in realization of the visions of the 
sainted Judsons, Browns, Cutters, Kincaids, and many 
other inspired heralds of the kingdom. 

"Watchman, what of the night? The morning 
cometh ! " 



To complete our story and bring it up to date we add 
the following few flashlights from several of these 
mountain heights: 

Impur: Mr. Dowd sends the inspiring word that the 
number of baptisms on the Impur field has been three 
times that for the previous five years. In 1905 there were 
recorded one hundred and ninety-one baptisms, and in 
1906 one hundred and thirty-eight. The churches have 
(in 1906) a membership of seven hundred and sixty, 
nearly half of whom have been gathered within the past 
two years. Although Mr. and Mrs. Perrine have had to 



Page 164 Young Evangelist and His Wife 




i 



I 



DAYBREAK 



retire permanently from the country on account of Mrs. 
Perrine's health, Doctor and Mrs. Loops and Mr. and 
Mrs. Longwell have gone out to strengthen the station. 

In January, 1896, Doctor Clark reported the Gospels 
of Matthew and John as nearly ready for printing, while 
a year later Mr. Dowd completed a translation of Mark. 
New arrangements have been made by which the govern- 
ment Educational Department takes over the village 
schools, thus far without seriously affecting the faithful- 
ness of the teachers as Christian leaders. Such govern- 
ment inspection unquestionably stimulates both teachers 
and pupils to greater thoroughness, while at the same 
time it places at the disposal of the mission the experience 
and advice of trained educational leaders and diminishes 
financial burdens by " grants-in-aid." 

The little band of Christians at Lungkun has found a 
consecrated and influential helper in Toshikaba, one of 
the village chief men who was baptized last January. 
He is said to have killed ten men and brought home their 
heads to the village in his earlier days. At Jakpa, on the 
border, Yangchu, a chief man, was recently baptized, the 
first-fruits of the warlike Moyung tribe. He was present 
at the Association this year and made his offering to the 
foreign mission fund that had been the means of his con- 
version. . . The opportunities in this field are great, and 
the people accessible. Hearts long resistant are being 
softened. Whole villages after years of hostility or in- 
difference are giving attention to the preaching of the 
word. 



A CORNER IN INDIA 



Kohima: Doctor and Mrs. Rivenburg returned to 
America for their second furlough late in 1905, after a 
term of eleven years' continuous service, leaving the work 
to Mr. and Mrs. Dickson, who had been designated to 
Kohima. When Doctor Rivenburg left, there were 
eighty young people in the station school, five of them 
girls. A year later Mr. Dickson reported a further 
increase of boys. The membership of the little church 
has doubled in three years. 

The evangelists report a greatly changed attitude of 
the Angamis toward the gospel. The people are listening 
and inquiring concerning Christianity as never before. 
A number of the older schoolboys have given up heathen 
worship. Three new schools have been opened, one of 
them in the largest Sema Naga village, which is on the 
Angami border. Recently a Christian Angami returned 
from the Burma side, where he had been trading, with 
a letter from Doctor East of Haka, impressing anew our 
nearness to other peoples; yet the hills intervening are 
swarming with savages waiting to hear the message of 
salvation. 

Ukhrul : Among the twenty thousand Tangkhul Na- 
gas, northeast of the capital of Manipur, Mr. Pettigrew is 
laying the foundations of a new order of things. He 
turned to them when forbidden by the Manipur govern- 
ment to work among Manipuris or to live in their capital 
city, and these savage head-hunters have received him 
cordially. He is probably the only white man who speaks 



DAYBREAK 



their language, which he has reduced to writing. The 
Gospels of Luke and John, and the Acts have been 
translated. 

The two schools have increased to eleven, with a little 
over three hundred pupils, only five of whom are girls. 
Seventy of the three hundred are in the station school in 
Ukhrul. The five native evangelists are making good use 
of their knowledge of medical and minor surgical treat- 
ment, and a hospital dispensary is now being erected at 
headquarters. There is only one church thus far, and 
that numbers but twenty-nine members, half of whom 
were baptized last year. The evangelists report (1906) 
some thirty more awaiting the ordinance. The members 
have built a meeting-house in the center of the village, 
where crowds gather Tuesday and Friday evenings, as 
well as on Sunday. There are nearly a hundred pupils 
in the station Sunday-school, besides Sunday-school 
classes in the station schools. 

Sadiya: Here Rev. and Mrs. L. W. B. Jackman are 
giving their first attention to Abors and Miris, who are 
allied tribes. The Abors, who inhabit the mountains, are 
the most powerful tribe on this frontier, and are esti- 
mated at two hundred thousand. The Miris of the plains 
are somewhat Hinduized. No church has been formed 
yet, and the six baptized in 1906 were from other tribes, 
but it is hoped that a church organization will soon be 
perfected. The earnestness and Christian spirit mani- 
fested by the new Christians have been a great source of 



A CORNER IN INDIA 



encouragement. Requests from the head men of several 
Abor villages for medical attendance will now be re- 
sponded to by Doctor Kirby who, with his wife, has 
joined the mission force at Sadiya. The Miris are ask- 
ing for schools, and teachers for this new opening must 
be trained. With building and other manifold labors Mr. 
Jackman has worked steadily upon the language of the 
Abor-Miri people, and has already several manuscripts 
ready for the press. " The loving Father has most won- 
derfully kept us. Dangers have come near, but the 
Master was nearer to ward them off and little harm has 
come to us." 

My husband thus expresses the changes wrought in 
these mountain wilds: 

" Thirty years ago I took up residence in these Naga 
hills in a village where some work had been done by a 
native evangelist. Save at this place, over all these ranges 
of hills hung the black pall of heathen, barbaric darkness. 
Now from some twenty of the fifty or more villages 
crowning the mountain crests floats the glorious banner 
of Christ, held by his Naga disciples. The softening twi- 
light of Christianity is here. Soon the broad daylight 
with its transforming power will reveal a Christianized 
people." 



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